Past, Present, and Future
by PrisonerPadfoot
Summary: After Naraku's defeat, Kagome spends four lonely years in the Modern Era. With a little help from an unlikely source she is transported back to the Sengoku Jidai, but is left with many unanswered questions. Only the past can explain what the future holds.
1. Demon's Kiss

Kagome stared down at the book in her lap, though she wasn't really seeing any of the words printed on the page. Ever since that day a year ago, she was having trouble keeping her mind from wandering. Math problems jumbled themselves into meaningless scribble before her eyes, poems and novels held no meaning, and every television show seemed to be completely without plot. Difficulty concentrating was not a good problem to have when you were in college, but Kagome was fed up trying to get her mind on track. All the time she spent studying was preparing her for her life in the future, a life as a respected doctor, a life living alone in Tokyo, a life five hundred years from where she wanted to be. The future was depressing, and she couldn't care less about it.

Kagome was startled out of her daze by a long, gangly shadow casting the pages of her book into darkness. She looked up to find Souta standing beside her, a baseball bat slung over his broad shoulders and a Hanshin Tigers cap on his head.

"Hey Kagome, I'm going to play baseball with my friends. Wanna come and watch us? You can keep score," said Souta.

Sometimes it still surprised Kagome to hear such a deep voice coming from her brother's mouth. He was fourteen years old now, but most of the time she still thought of him as a little kid.

"No thanks, Souta. I'm just going to read for awhile," Kagome drawled, idly turning a page.

"Okay..." he sighed, and started to walk away, only to turn back to her a few seconds later. "You sure you don't wanna come?" he asked, and Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, okay..."

Kagome watched as he ran off down the block. Souta was a good kid with his heart in the right place, but sometimes she just wished he would leave her alone. Ever since that day a year ago, he had been trying desperately to lighten her spirits. He would keep her company when she wanted to be alone, invite her to outings with his friends, and even helped her with her chores. She appreciated it, and loved him dearly, but she knew in the long run that nothing he did could help her forget the past and live in the future. She would forget her sadness for only awhile, and then it would creep back up on her in the most inconvenient of places. In the shower it made her curl up and cry in the bottom of the tub, in class it made it impossible to take notes, and on the street it made her run across traffic and all the way home.

In fact, sitting now under Goshinboku, it was creeping up on her again.

She slammed her book shut and looked up into the leaves, blinking furiously to try and keep the tears away. She let her head loll onto her shoulder, and she caught sight of the well house. Though she only saw it for second, she was sure there was a figure silhouetted against the building. It quickly disappeared inside the doorway, a shadowy specter becoming one with the darkness. Deep within her bones, she could feel a twinge of power.

With her heart hammering in her chest, she raced to the well house and stood in the doorway. She would feel something moving inside, something powerful, something inhuman. The aura she felt coming from within was tiny, but she had an inkling that there may have been more power behind it than she was able to feel, more power than it was willing to expose.

"Hello?" she called, and of course there was no answer.

She would have to enter.

She would have to face the well again for the first time in a year, and she didn't know if she was ready.

"I know you're in there!" she yelled. "Don't make me come in after you."

But as she said that, she was already crossing the threshold. Small rays of light peeked in through the wall boards, casting the old well in eerie light. She could feel the small aura lingering, but it seemed that she was the only person in the shrine. Besides the well itself, there were no proper hiding places in the shrine.

She approached the well tentatively, ready for some foul demon to pop out from its depths even though she knew it would be impossible. The well hadn't worked for years, and Kagome doubted it would ever work again.

She breathed a sigh when she peered down into the well and found nothing but blackness. Looking into that abyss, she was overcome. The small aura made her afraid of the well house's shadowy corners, but she was more afraid of the flood of memories.

A year ago she had stood at the well with her mother, feeling a minute flow of power from its depths and taking a leap of faith. As she jumped, she could feel what was left of the well's power ebb away, and when she landed she knew she had only fallen a few feet instead of through five hundred years like she wanted to. She laid at the bottom of well for nearly an hour until Souta got home from school and jumped in after her, hoisting her back out again.

It was the first time since that day that she had dared to enter the shrine. And it had been a mistake.

She ran out of the shrine, damning that strange aura for luring her back into the place of her despair.

* * *

At school the next day, the nagging aura returned. She felt it lurking outside as she sat in her first class of the day, and consequently she didn't hear a word of what her professor was saying. She squirmed in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs, drumming her pencil on the seat in front of her until the person sitting in it gave her an angry glance.

She left class early, stumbling over the legs and feet of her classmates to exit the narrow row of seats, and nearly ran from the building. She felt like she was being followed. She kept glancing over her shoulder, but could find nothing out of place. There were only bustling students and teachers, and the occasional maintenance worker dashing by on a golf cart.

She headed in the direction of the library, the one place on campus she could find solace in. When she reached the library's massive glass doors, she grabbed onto the handle and threw open the doors, earning a few strange looks from the librarian sitting at the reference desk. She dashed up the stairs, all the way to the fourth floor. She ran into the rows of books, winding her way through them until she was hidden in depths of the dewey decimal system. She collapsed into her usual chair, hidden among opposing rows of religion and philosophy. She picked a book at random and laid it in her lap, though she did not open it.

The aura seemed very far away now, four floors down and outside somewhere, so she was surprised when the clawed hand fell upon her shoulder.

She screamed, but the hand was quickly over her mouth and muffling her. She looked to her left, her eyes slowly working their way up a white shirt and black blazer to an ethereally handsome, painfully familiar face. His wispy silver hair was shorter then she remembered, purposely arranged to hide the makings on his face and the pointed tips of his ears.

She hadn't sensed him coming, and even now she could feel no aura radiating from him. She could feel the nagging presence that had followed her to class lingering outside, separate yet somehow tuned into him.

She tried to say his name, but the word caught in her throat for a few moments. It was a ridiculously surreal moment, and Kagome considered pinching herself to see whether or not she was dreaming. Maybe this entire year of her life had been nothing but a dream. Maybe she had hit her head when she jumped into the well and put herself into a coma. It was easier to admit she was lost in a dream than it was to admit what she was seeing was real.

"Sesshoumaru..." she managed to whisper.

"Yes," he said simply, and his delicately masculine baritone sent a wash lightheadedness over her.

"You snuck up on me. I felt an aura...but it isn't yours."

"No, it is Shizuka. She was exploring the shrine yesterday, and she followed you to class this morning as well. Her methods of tracking are still quite unrefined. She takes after her father," he said, the corners of his mouth lifting in a smile.

She had never seen him smile before. Something strange was going on, and his simple expression of happiness was proof.

"What are you talking about? Who's Shizuka?" she asked, trying to override her surprise with her growing confusion. "You can't even be here!" she yelled in whisper, "The well only ever worked for me and Inuyasha!"

Sesshoumaru lifted an eyebrow as if to ask if she were in denial or just dense. Kagome's heart gave a painful leap and she saw the centuries gathered in his eyes, a weary wisdom that she could not remember there before. She turned away from him when she felt her eyes beginning to glaze over with tears.

"You're...oh my God," she said, and buried her face in her hands. Deep down, she had known it was his demon lifespan and not the well that allowed him to be in the modern era, but it was sill not an easy thing to comprehend.

For years she had been alone, the last remnant of the magic that had thrived in the Sengoku Jedai. Now she was face to face with the most powerful of demons, her love's half-brother and former Lord of the West. It was too much too fast. Daring another glance at him, she couldn't help but laugh. The last time she had seen him, he was dressed in a silk kimono with two swords on his hip and a fluffy pelt over his shoulder. Now he was in jeans and an open-throated shirt.

"I wanted to go back so badly," she cried. "But the well doesn't work anymore."

Sesshoumaru growled, and tears spilled down Kagome's cheeks.

"It will work," he said sternly.

"No it won't," she sighed. "And I'm not trying again. I won't give up my hopes and be heartbroken. Not again."

"Did you not hear what I said?" the taiyoukai asked irritably. "It will work. I swear it."

He turned and disappeared into the shelves. Kagome fumbled after him, leaving her schoolbag behind. She reached him just as he was descending the stairs, and she wrapped her arm around his elbow, clinging desperately to him. Falling in stride with his easy gait helped calm her nerves and reassure her that she wasn't losing her mind. It was real, he was real, and maybe, just maybe, he could help her see Inuyasha again. She was only surprised that he did not try to shrug out of her hold.

When they stepped outside, Sesshoumaru's attention became distracted. He looked over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised, and Kagome turned to see what he was looking at.

Standing still in a sea of hurrying students, was a girl in jeans and a white t-shirt. There was a red cap on her head, and her long black hair fell over her shoulder in waves. Looking in the girl's smirking brown eyes, Kagome felt she might as well have been looking into a mirror.

The aura had grown, and Kagome could almost see it pulsating out from the girl's body.

"Who is that?" Kagome asked Sesshoumaru.

"You'll know her in time," he said cryptically, and Kagome dared not ask him again.

* * *

"I don't feel anything," Kagome said, peering down into the well.

At soon as she said that, she could feel Sesshoumaru looming over her shoulder. She turned around quickly, and was taken aback by how close he was standing.

"Kagome," Sesshoumaru said, and she looked at him in shock. He had never called her by her name. She had even doubted whether he knew her name at all, and now it rolled off his tongue with a strange tenderness she didn't quite understand. "You met me in my youth many years ago, so in the future here I knew you. I have watched you grow in this era, and in the past I saw you die. It is your destiny to live and die in the Sengoku Jedai."

"But that can't be!" she raged. She was angry, confused, sad. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. "The well doesn't work! You can't remember me dying in the Sengoku Jedai if I cant get back there!"

"You can return, and you will," he said, and when she opened her mouth to argue, he pressed a claw to her lips to silence her.

The intimacy of the gesture left her aghast, and she could feel a strange heat rising in her stomach. Her knees threatened to become unhinged. Something within those five-hundred years of life had changed him. He was no less regal and proud, but he was not as cold as she remembered him. Emotion had finally crept into his once stoic face, and into his once impassive voice. It was almost like she was dealing with a different person.

"I once thought the well would open again for you of it's own accord, but your little stunt last year proved me wrong. I knew I would have to help you do it," he said, and removed his claw to let her speak.

"If you've known that for a year, why are you just coming to me now?" she yelled, then suddenly thought of a much better question. "Why are you even trying to help me at all? It doesn't make any sense."

"You don't understand. With that knowledge, I realized I have in my hands the power to change the past. I have spent a long year pondering whether or not it would be less painful for all parties to just leave you here in this era," he said, his yellow eyes cutting into her. "But I have grown too fond of my memories. And of my little companion. I have decided to let the past follow its original course."

Kagome felt like screaming.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she thundered.

"One day you'll realize," he said, and his hands were in her hair, pulling her closer.

When he kissed her, reality seemed to fall in on itself.

She wanted to pull away, but the pleasant heat in her belly and her weakening knees bid her to submit to his affection. He gently parted her lips with his tongue, and Kagome thought her mind would spiral into madness.

His claws gripped painfully to her backside, and she awoke out of her stupor. She kissed him back, daring to run her tongue over the foreign shape of his fangs. The act seemed immoral, forbidden, but she couldn't help herself. He had tried to kill her many years ago, had treated her beloved Inuyasha with unbound cruelty, and now as his hand crept under her shirt and cupped her breast, all was forgotten.

She nibbled at his lower lip and he growled, finally pulling away from her. He gripped her forearms tightly and made her back up a few steps until she could feel the lip of the well pressing into her calves. There was a look in his eye she didn't particularly like.

"Sesshoumaru?"

He smiled, and from behind her Kagome could feel a flash of ancient magic.

He said nothing as he pushed her backwards and into the well.

As she fell, the black-haired girl from campus appeared at Sesshoumaru's side. Her arms were crossed at a cocky angle, and now that she wasn't wearing her hat, Kagome thought she just might understand a bit of what Sesshoumaru was trying to tell her.

Perched upon the girl's head were two triangular ears, black instead of the white she had seen so many times before.

The last thing she remembered seeing before the darkness swallowed her was her future waving down at her with a crooked smile.


	2. Demon's Kin

"You confused her something awful," Shizuka said, jumping up and crouching on the lip of the well. All traces of its magic were gone, and both demons knew that for the rest of its days, the well would be nothing more than a dry pit in the earth.

"I know, but all will become clear to her in time," Sesshoumaru said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Shizuka's ears swiveled at the sound footsteps on the sidewalk, and a scent very similar to Kagome's. Shizuka stepped down from the well and sat on the ground against it, arms and legs crossed.

"Souta's coming," she said. "Are we going to tell him now?"

"Yes."

"Wonder how he's gonna take losing his sister," Shizuka pondered.

"He may have lost Kagome, but he will gain something in return," Sesshoumaru said.

For a moment she wasn't exactly sure what he meant. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised, and he looked at her with an equal expression. She realized he was talking about her and she looked away.

"Keh," Shizuka spat.

There were a few moments of silence between them.

"What about you?" Shizuka finally asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're never gonna see her again either," Shizuka clarified.

"I could say the same of you," Sesshoumaru said.

He watched as Shizuka's brow furrowed, her ears folding back against her skull. She grumbled and shook her head, making no reply as Souta's footsteps worked their way up the stairs to the shrine.

"Kagome?" Souta called. "Hey Kagome, are you in there?"

"Nobody in here but us demons," Shizuka responded, and Sesshoumaru hit her swiftly in the back of the head. "Ow…" she moaned and pulled her hat out of her back pocket. She jammed it low on her head, casting her face in shadow.

Souta stood rigid in the doorway, unsure of how to proceed with the two unfamiliar people he was confronted with. He seemed unaware that his mouth was hanging slightly open, and Shizuka sniggered.

"No way…" he said. "Are you guys friends of Kagome's? You know, from the other side?"

Shizuka chanced a look up at Sesshoumaru before responding. "You can say that," she said.

"But the well," Souta began, dropping his schoolbag in the doorway and rushing over to it. He stood between Sesshoumaru and Shizuka to look down into it. "It didn't work anymore."

"Oh, it worked," Shizuka said, unfurling her legs and propping her arm up on the well's lip, letting her fingers dangle into the darkness. "For your sister anyway. We didn't come through it."

Souta looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Huh?"

"Kagome has gone back to her rightful place in the Sengoku Jidai," Sesshoumaru said, and Souta jumped at the unexpected voice in his ear. He wheeled around to face the taiyoukai, quickly backing out from his place between the two demons.

"You mean she's gone? For good?" he asked, his eyes wide. With shock that Kagome was gone or in fear of him, Sesshoumaru wasn't quite sure. Perhaps it was a bit of both. "Forever?"

"Yes."

Souta's face fell, his eyes coming to rest on the floor of the shrine. "I didn't even say goodbye to her."

Shizuka sighed and got to her feet. She clapped a hand on Souta's shoulder, and he seemed transfixed by her long white claws.

"It's probably better that you didn't," Shizuka said. "Goodbye might have been too hard for her."

"I can't believe I'm never gonna see her again."

Shizuka sighed. She looked towards Sesshoumaru and tugged on the bill of her cap. He merely shrugged, and Shizuka turned back to Souta, clearing her throat to get his attention.

"Well, in a way you just might," Shizuka said and took off her hat, jamming it back into her pocket.

The shadows lifted from her face, and her ears sprang back into place. She swiveled them around a bit for show. Souta's expression remained in black shock, and when his hand wandered up toward her ears it seemed to almost be doing so of its own accord. Shizuka tilted her head out of the way, allowing only a single finger to graze her right ear.

"Holy…You look like Kagome, but you've got…you…Inuyasha's ears," Souta said in a daze. "Who are you?"

Before Shizuka could answer, Sesshoumaru stepped forward, extending a hand to Souta.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Sesshoumaru said, shaking Souta's limp hand. "I am Sesshoumaru, half-brother to Inuyasha. This is Shizuka."

"Whoa, I didn't know Inuyasha had a brother," Souta said.

"Hnn," the taiyoukai grumbled, unsurprised. Shizuka snorted.

"Dude, we have a lot of talking to do," Shizuka said, throwing her arm around her very confused kin.


	3. Demon's Death

Kagome landed hard at the bottom of the well, and all the air rushed from her lungs in a painful loss of breath. She groaned and flipped onto her back only to be greeted by a square of blue sky above, instead of the well house roof she had expected to see. Even with the well's strong flash of magic, she had not expected it to work. It was too good to be true that she should get her wish after four long years of waiting.

And Sesshoumaru. She couldn't begin to understand his motives for helping her back to the Sengoku Jidai, much less his motives for kissing her and taking a grab at her ass. His last words rang in her mind, one day you'll realize, and she supposed he meant that she would find the answer she needed here in the past. Hopefully the answer would come soon enough, because the more she thought about him grabbing her, the angrier she became. The only boy she wanted feeling her up was Inuyasha, and--

The thought slammed into her like a charging oni. If she had seen Sesshoumaru and that demon girl in the future, where was Inuyasha?

With renewed energy, Kagome scrambled to her feet and began the climb out of the well, using old roots and brittle vines to hoist herself out. One of the vines broke under her weight, and she dug her nails into the dirt wall to keep herself from falling all the way back down. She reached up and tried to grab hold of a root high above her head, but instead she found her fingers held firmly in a clawed hand.

He yanked her into the light of day, and when she saw his face again for the first time in four years, she smiled and began to cry.

"Inuyasha…" she said softly, reaching out to place her hand on his cheek.

"Kagome…" he said, "You came back."

"Inuyasha!" she cried and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs firmly around his waist. "I missed you so much!"

He held her tightly and laid his head on her shoulder. "I missed you, too."

Kagome ran her fingers through his hair, coaxing him to look her in eye. She had loved him for so long, and yet this the closest they had ever been. When she leaned in to kiss him, it was for the first time. He tensed for a moment, but it didn't take long for him relax and kiss her back. Unfortunately the moment was cut short by the calls of a very familiar voice.

"Hey Inuyasha, where'd you go!?"

Kagome looked over Inuyasha's shoulder to see Shippo bouncing up the hill toward them. Kagome uncoiled herself from Inuyasha and ran towards Shippo, who came to halt with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"Kagome!" he yelled and leaped into Kagome's arms. She held him tightly, gently rocking him back and forth in her arms. "I knew you'd come back!"

The kit then jumped out of her hold and flailed his arms around wildly in excitement. "You have to see Miroku and Sango!"

Inuyasha's hand fell gently upon her shoulder.

"Wanna run?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, and Inuyasha crouched down for her to get on his back. He held her firmly by the back of her knees, and Shippo jumped up and secured himself between them.

Kagome's heart rose as he ran, and with the wind whipping in her hair and across her face she felt more exhilarated and alive than she had in years. She finally remembered what it felt like to be happy. And in love.

She gently peeled back a piece of Inuyasha's haori and kosode to place a gentle kiss on his shoulder. Shippo giggled, and so did Kagome when she saw the blush creeping down Inuyasha's neck.

Inuyasha stopped and let them down in front of a hut on the fringe of the village, and from the rear of the house Kagome could hear the laughter and chatter of young children. She looked at Inuyasha and he smiled, jerking his thumb toward the hut.

Kagome sprinted around back to find to find Sango and Miroku hanging laundry out to dry. There was an infant bundled on Sango's back, and two identical girls playing at their feet.

"Sango! Miroku!"

Sango turned around and let the white sheet she was holding fall into the dirt, followed closely by the clothespin.

"Kagome…" Miroku muttered in shock.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted, and Kagome was crushed by the taijiya's ecstatic hug. She was then passed on into Miroku's embrace, where she was afforded a bit more breathing room.

"Didn't I say she'd come back?!" Shippo said, bounding up onto Miroku's shoulder.

"We never doubted you, Shippo," Miroku said, and Kagome's eyes began to water again.

"And you guys are married!" Kagome yelled.

"Married four years with three children," Miroku said. A soon as he said this, the twin girls grew bored enough with their play to notice the happenings. The two girls stood on either side of Miroku. He laid his hand on the daughter to his right first. "This is Aiko," his hand then fell on his other daughter, "This is Kokoro, and this," he said, turning Sango around so Kagome could see the precious bundle on her back, "Is Masaru."

"I'm so happy for you!" Kagome shouted and hugged Sango again.

"Lady Sango, here is the rest of the laundry," a high-pitched voice interjected, and Kagome turned to see a large basket of laundry coming around the side of the hut, supported by a pair of skinny legs clothed in pink kimono.

Inuyasha took the basket from the girl's hands and Kagome nearly squealed at the sight of Rin, very tall and nearly all grown up.

"Rin!"

"Kagome?" Rin said, her face scrunching up a bit.

Kagome rushed over and hugged the girl, than held her out at arm's length. "You got so big! Are you living in the village now?"

"Yes! I'm staying with Lady Kaede," she said, and her face was overcome by a wide smile. "I'll go tell Lady Kaede you're back, Kagome! She'll be so surprised!"

Rin was gone in a flutter of brightly colored fabric. While they waited for her to return they sat in the grass and talked. The last four years in the future had seen Kagome retreat into her own little world. She rarely spoke to even her own family, since they could never have hoped to understand her grief. Now the words poured from her in an excited tumult. She listened and responded to each thing they told her, and all the while Inuyasha kept his arm firmly around her. When they asked, she told them that the well had simply reopened in a flash of light, and she had jumped through to find that it worked again. She did not tell them of Sesshoumaru or Shizuka, and she supposed she never would.

When Rin returned with Kaede, the old miko was shocked nearly to tears. Kagome thought she had never been so happy.

Her only concern was that there was one person she had yet to see. The very person that had helped her return to her friends in the first place.

When darkness fell they went their separate ways. Rin and Kaede went home together. Shippo began to make his way back to his home at the Kitsune Inn, not without a promise to be back in the morning. Sango and Miroku herded their children inside, and Inuyasha took Kagome's hand and led her home.

Kagome's heart beat a frantic tattoo in her chest. She couldn't wait to be alone with him, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel nervous. She wanted to show him how much she loved him, to see him and feel him like she never had before. Even though it was only a few hours ago that they shared their first kiss, they had loved each other through five-hundred years.

Once they were inside his modest abode, Kagome closed the curtain behind them and kissed him desperately. She pulled at his clothes and after she had exposed his chest, she took a few steps back from him. She took off her shirt and unhooked her bra, slowly revealing herself to him. He reached out to her, his claws trailing lightly up her sides. Kagome took one of his hands and pressed it to her breast. She kissed him again and his arm wrapped around her, holding her tightly.

"Kagome, are you sure?" he asked. The nervousness in his voice was palpable.

"I've never been surer about anything in my life," she said, and in a flurry of abandoned clothing and the soft sound of flesh on flesh, they welcomed the first night of the rest of their lives.  


* * *

  
"Be careful, okay?" Kagome said, standing up on her toes to place a kiss on her intended's lips.

"Yeah, yeah. You worry too much, Kagome," Inuyasha said.

"I didn't wait four years and go through five-hundred years just to lose you," she said. She watched as Inuyasha's eyes fell, his ears drooping. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I'll be careful," he said.

Kagome reluctantly let him go. She watched as he disappeared up the road to Miroku's hut. From there he and the monk would travel on to a neighboring village to exterminate some troublesome youkai. It was the first time in the three months since her return that they had been apart, and Kagome couldn't help but worry about him.

Taking her worries with her, she made her way to Kaede's hut where she found the miko and Rin working diligently in the garden.

"Hello child, come here and help us tend to the garden," Kaede said. It didn't take long for the old woman to notice something was bothering her. "Does something trouble you?"

Kagome sighed and plucked a weed. "I'm just worried about Inuyasha. It's the first time since I've been back that we've been apart. I'm probably just worrying too much. He'll probably be fine."

"Aye, child. He and Miroku have been performing exorcisms together for all the years you were gone, and they have always come back in one piece."

They continued to pluck, plant, and till as the sun rose higher in the sky. It was fairly easy work, and Kagome learned a lot of uses for herbs from Kaede in the process. And it succeeded in keeping her mind off of Inuyasha.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin shouted.

Kagome looked up to see Rin abandon her hoe and run out to the demon standing just outside the garden. Kagome gasped and dropped the herbs she had been bundling.

"Are ye all right, child?" Kaede asked.

"Yes," Kagome said, though it was far from the truth.

It was the first time since her return that she had seen him. She had almost been dreading meeting his past self again, although with Rin living in the village she knew he was bound to cross her path eventually. She had tried her best not to think of what he had told her in the future. And more importantly she tried not to remember what he had done to her, especially since she and Inuyasha were to be married soon. She couldn't even confront him with what he had done, because in reality he wouldn't be doing it for another five-hundred years. He wasn't the hidden demon in a black blazer yet. He was still that cold demon Lord who dressed in silk and carried a sword that saves. It was a frustrating and odd situation if there ever was one.

Kagome's heart leaped into her throat as Rin turned back and pointed her out to him. She felt his hardened gaze fall on her and she lowered her eyes. The kindness that she had seen in his future self was completely absent.

Kagome took a deep breath and set her mind. If she was ever going to figure out what changed him, she was going to have to at least say hello to him and get him to acknowledge her existence with more than a silent stare. She got to her feet and brushed the dirt from her knees, approaching him as calmly as she could manage.

"Hello, Sesshoumaru," she said, bowing her head slightly.

"Miko," he said.

"I was just telling Lord Sesshoumaru how you came back through the well, Kagome," Rin said.

"Really?" Kagome said. If only everyone knew the entire truth about how the well had opened again. Not that they would have believed her for a second anyway.

Kagome was anticipating awkward silence to ensue, but instead there was frantic yelling. "Kagome! Kaede!"

"That's Miroku," Kagome said, and she ran around the front of the house with Rin beside her and Kaede hobbling along behind.

Though she hadn't even seen him move, Sesshoumaru somehow managed to reach Miroku and Inuyasha before they did.

Miroku was standing in front of Kaede's hut with Inuyasha's arm over his shoulder. The monk was scratched and bruised, but Inuyasha was in worse shape by far. The hanyou's middle was torn open and bleeding profusely, and he was depending on Miroku to support most of his weight.

"What happened?" Kagome yelled, and she rushed over to help support Inuyasha.

"A lizard youkai managed to get the best of us," Miroku said.

"Not before I cut off his damn tail!" Inuyasha yelled and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Get him inside quickly," Kaede said, guiding them toward the hut.

Inuyasha caught his brother glance as he was taken inside.

"Shut up," Inuyasha mumbled, even thought the taiyoukai said nothing.

* * *

Though the hour was nearing dawn, neither of them had slept the entire night. Inuyasha never slept on the night of the new moon, and Kagome found it hard to fall asleep when he was sitting awake and watchful all night with Tetsusaiga in his lap. She curled up next to him and laid her head on his leg. Inuyasha remained tense and silent throughout the night, which gave Kagome ample opportunity to think.

It had been almost a year since her return and her life had taken some very pleasant turns. She and Inuyasha were married, and in a few months time there would be a new member of their little family. The face Inuyasha made when he realized what the change in her scent meant was forever ingrained in her memory. She would be laughing about it until the end of her days. He had been completely dumbfounded at first, but when he came out of his stupor he had hugged her tight and promised to do his best to protect her and their child.

But thought it had been almost a year, there were some things that remained the same. Kagome still didn't have solid evidence as to how the past and future of her life connected with each other, at least not where Sesshoumaru's attitude was concerned. But after a lot of thought, there was one thing she was finally sure about.

"Inuyasha," she said, and he gave a sleepy grumble. "I know what I want to name the baby."

"What?"

"Her name is Shizuka," she said, and Inuyasha looked down at her as if she were crazy.

"Woman, how do you know it's going to be a girl?" he asked.

"I just know," she replied. That would have to be answer enough.

"Keh. Sure you do," he said and gave a wide yawn.

There was a strange sound outside, a wail like wind in the trees, and Kagome shivered. At the same time she felt as Inuyasha's body went rigid beneath her.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Yeah. Pretty weird, huh?"

"No, I know that sound," he said, and got to his feet. To her surprise, he dashed out of the hut.

"Inuyasha, don't go out there!" she yelled, and quickly got to her feet and ran out after him.

She found him standing at the edge of the forest, a large demon looming over him. Its eyes were huge and bulging, its skin scaly and covered in long spikes.

He had no tail. Not anymore.

"Inuyasha, I've been looking for you," it said. The youkai's voice was slithery and unpleasant. It wailed again, and Kagome covered her ears at the horrible sound.

"Yeah, well you found me," Inuyasha grumbled, "Now get ready to die!" He drew Tetsusaiga though it was nothing more than an old katana.

The youkai laughed. "You're nothing but a human now. What can you do to me? I think I'll take a bite of your mate first."

The youkai lunged forward and Kagome screamed, but Inuyasha had thrown himself in front of the demon and stuck Tetsusaiga into it's throat. With a swipe of it's claws, the demon threw Inuyasha to the ground.

"Run, Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted as he tried to get to his feet. He was run through with a hooked claw as he stood.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled.

"Kagome, watch out!"

Kagome ducked and was sprayed with blood as the youkai's arm was cut off at the elbow. She saw Hiraikotsu flying across the sky above her head, and suddenly the youkai had his sights on Sango. He rushed at her, but there was a flash of light and the rest of his already mangled arm fell to the ground. Sesshoumaru landed beside Sango, and the taijiya and taiyoukai did battle together.

Kagome didn't stop to watch the fray. She ran to Inuyasha and took him in her arms. She placed her hand to his neck, but could feel no pulse, and he wasn't breathing. She buried her face in his dark hair and cried, listening to the sounds of battle nearby.

There was one last terrible wail and then the sound of a blade being sheathed. Kagome looked up at the sound of footsteps in the grass to find Sango and Sesshoumaru towering over her.

"Can't you help him? Please?" Kagome asked.

Sesshoumaru touched Tenseiga's hilt only briefly. "It's too late," he said, and his hand moved to draw Bakusaiga again.

"What are you doing? Put that away!" Kagome yelled.

"The human part of his soul has been released to the afterlife, but the demon will return with sunrise," Sesshoumaru said and lowered Bakusaiga's tip to loom over Inuyasha's head. "You are in danger. Release him."

"No!" she yelled, tucking Inuyasha closer to her.

"Miko, I command you to release the hanyou," Sesshoumaru said so fiercely that it frightened her.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to do. She didn't doubt Sesshoumaru's word, but she didn't want to give up on Inuyasha. She had seen his full demon side before and had helped him conquer it, but now that the human part of his soul had died she wasn't sure there was anything she could do to help him. She couldn't lose him like this, not to the mercy of his brother's blade, and not when she was carrying a child that would need his love and guidance.

In the course of a few minutes her life had crumbled before her eyes.

The sky lightened as the sun rose in the east, and Kagome watched as the color drained from Inuyasha's hair. His ears slid back atop his head, and Kagome could feel his heart come alive again, beating hard in his chest.

"Kagome," Sango said softly, "Just let him go."

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said, and smoothed back a lock of his hair to see the blue stripe running across his cheek.

He opened his eyes and his face was illuminated in a murderous red glow. Kagome screamed and fell away from him as his claws cut into her side.

There was a loud crack as Hiraikotsu slammed into him, knocking him into a tree. Kagome screamed as he slid down the trunk, leaving a smear of blood in his wake. Inuyasha opened his eyes as he hit the ground, giving a feral snarl. He made to lunge at Kagome, his claws searching for purchase on her vulnerable body.

He never reached her.

In one deliberate jab, Bakusaiga sliced through Inuyasha's heart and pinned him to the tree.

Kagome's mind began to swirl, and the corners of her vision faded to black. She swayed and Sango caught her before she could fall. The taijiya and taiyoukai exchanged a glance and knew that Kagome's life would never be the same.

* * *

  
Kagome removed the dead and wilted flowers from the grave, replacing them with a fresh bouquet. In the beginning she had walked to his grave nearly everyday, but now it was the first time in a over a month she had come to visit him. The cold months were beginning to settle in, and walking through snow while eight months pregnant was not very advisable.

"Miko."

Kagome was startled by the sudden voice behind her. She didn't even bother turning around.

"Sesshoumaru," she acknowledged him.

She should have been angry at him. She should have rushed at him and tried to throttle him for killing Inuyasha, but she couldn't. She couldn't hold any anger toward him because in her heart she knew there had been no other choice. He had tried to save Inuyasha with Tenseiga. And if he hadn't put Inuyasha out of his misery, then both she and her unborn child would have gone to the afterlife with him. It was a mercy killing, and Kagome couldn't find the will or the reason to be angry at him.

"The hurt will pass and life will go on," Sesshoumaru said suddenly.

The sincerity of his words struck her, but she couldn't help but be defensive.

"How do you know?" she said bitterly, slowly turning to face him. "The man I loved is dead. You have no idea how I feel."

"This Sesshoumaru is no stranger to loss, miko," he replied and began to turn away.

"But who have you-?" she began, but at that moment the wind picked up. Kagome watched as his hair fluttered up in elegant strands, and she knew the answer to her question. "It was Kagura, wasn't it? You loved her."

Sesshoumaru stopped but did not turn around. "Ridiculous."

"No, Sesshoumaru," she said, getting to her feet. "I don't think it's ridiculous at all."

She went to him and lightly touched his sleeve. He pulled out of her hold and walked away, his form quickly disappearing in the flurry of snow.


	4. Demon's Revelations

"Wait a minute," Souta said, shaking his head. "I don't believe you."

"I think you do," Shizuka replied, giving him a gentle punch in the arm. "You're just a little shocked."

"That's the biggest understatement ever. So let me get this straight," he said, pointing over to the taiyoukai leaning up against Goshinboku. "He's Inuyasha's half-brother. You're Kagome and Inuyasha's daughter, so that makes me your uncle. And Inuyasha died even before you were born."

"Sounds about right," Shizuka said with a shrug.

"So that's it? There's only two of you left?"

"Nah, Shippo and Kirara are still around. They like to travel, though. Last we heard from them they were in Russia somewhere, but they were headed back soon just to see you, little buddy."

"Whoa," Souta said and collapsed on his back into the grass.

"You said it," Shizuka said, and gave a mischievous grin as she turned to Sesshoumaru. "So, should we tell him more about you and my mother?"

"Save it for another day," Sesshoumaru smirked.

"What do you mean, him and Kagome?" Souta asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Heh, never mind. You've heard enough head-busting info for today." Shizuka laughed, and pulled Souta's backpack into her lap.

She began to nose through his bag, looking through papers and books that held little interest to her. At the bottom of the bag she felt a stitched ball rolling around, and she pulled it out with a laugh. Souta sat up as she spun the baseball around on the tapered tip of her claw. She could feel her youkai uncle rolling his eyes from somewhere behind her.

"You play?" Souta asked.

"I would," she said, bringing the ball out of its spin to throw it up and catch it again. "Not many people to play with when you're in my position, though."

Souta ripped his bag out of Shizuka's lap and opened the side pocket to pull out his glove. He crouched down in the grass a few feet away, one hand behind his back, his glove ready to receive her pitch.

"Let's see what you got," he said.

Shizuka smirked and got to her feet. "I'll go easy on you," she said, giving the ball one last spin.

"You better not."

"You're forgetting you're playing with a demon," she said, preparing to wind up for her pitch. "Well, quarter demon."

She threw the ball, utilizing just enough of her inhuman strength to impress him and not bruise his hand. The ball crashed into the pocket of his glove with a satisfying leathery smack.

"Holy crap!" Souta said. He dropped the ball and ripped his hand out of his glove, wringing it out against the sting of her fastball. "You don't play guitar, do you?"

Shizuka laughed. "No, but I swing a mean sword. You should see sometime. "

"Tetsusaiga?" he said with a knowing smile, tossing her the ball.

"Yep."

A honking horn disturbed the neighborhood quiet, and they looked towards the house to see a car pulling into the driveway.

"Mom's home," Souta said as Mrs. Higurashi got out of her car.

"You know what that means," Shizuka said.

"Yeah," Souta said, returning his mother's wave. "We have to tell her about Kagome. And you guys."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the boy's casual tone. "You don't sound concerned about how your mother may react to all of this."

"Are you kidding?" Souta laughed. "Nothing phases mom."


	5. Demon's Heart

She was going crazy again, just she did every full moon.

Kagome paced in front of her hut so many times she was surprised that she had not carved a runnel in the earth. She held her infant daughter in her arms, hugging and whispering soothing words to the bothered child, but Shizuka refused to stop her crying. She made sure the child was fed and clean, but nothing was working. It never did. Every full moon, when Shizuka lost her demon powers, she would cry until sunrise when her ears returned to their rightful place atop her head.

One more full moon of this and Kagome thought she may lose her mind. It was on these nights that she missed Inuyasha the most. He would have known what to do.

Shizuka's cries amplified into heart-wrenching screams and Kagome patted her gently on the back.

"Oh honey, what's wrong?" she pleaded. Shizuka only answered with more screaming.

Kagome about-faced and began her pacing anew, but something stood in her way and she crashed into it, getting a good bump on her forehead. She looked up into a pair of golden eyes and grumbled.

"Oh geez," she said, barely hearing herself over Shizuka. "It's just you. Kami, don't you have something better to do than sneak up on me? Sleeping like a normal person, maybe?"

"Something the matter, miko?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"I'm at my wits end," Kagome said, repositioning the squirming baby in her arms. "I don't know what to do anymore. She just won't stop crying."

Sesshoumaru looked on with a raised eyebrow as Kagome struggled with her daughter. Consequences be damned, she had a mind to tell him to go someplace very unpleasant. Her patience was stretched enough as it was. She didn't need him gawking at her and laughing to himself besides. She was just about to tell him to get lost when he spoke.

"You have forgotten she is part inuyoukai," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He opened his hands to receive the child, and for a moment Kagome wasn't sure what to do. Kagome rarely let anyone else hold Shizuka, and even her experienced aunt Sango had held her only a few times. Kagome was a very protective mother, even though she knew her worries were for naught. Shizuka would live a long life well into the modern era, and she wouldn't live it alone. She would have her uncle with her.

Though it pained Kagome to see her daughter in anyone else's arms, she made an exception for Sesshoumaru. Carefully, Kagome placed Shizuka in her uncle's hands. She watched in disbelief as intimidating youkai cradled his little niece to his chest. His mokomoko wrapped around Shizuka as well, protecting her from his spiked armor.

Sesshoumaru began to growl low and deep in his chest. There was no malice in it, and it was more like a purr than a growl, but Kagome wasn't about to take any chances. She tugged on his sleeve and tried to take her daughter away, but he wasn't having it. He turned away from her grabbing hands without a word.

"What are you doing with her?" Kagome said, giving hard yank on his sleeve.

His said nothing and Kagome realized that there was silence. She stood at the taiyoukai's side and looked down at the little girl in his arms. Shizuka gave a yawn and closed her eyes, her tiny fist curling around a piece of Sesshoumaru's fur. When Kagome was certain Shizuka was soundly asleep, Sesshoumaru handed her back.

"Thank you," Kagome said. She almost couldn't believe what he had done.

She also couldn't believe that by the time she looked up from her daughter he was already gone.

* * *

Giving a sigh, Kagome hung the last sheet out to dry. When she turned to pick up her basket she was surprised to find a little demon sitting next to it, obviously in a bad mood.

Shizuka's arms and legs were crossed, her ears folded back against her head. Her bottom lip was turned down slightly. Kagome bent down and ran her fingers over one soft puppy ear, and Shizuka smiled through her pouting. She was four years old now and aging like any other human child, though Kagome knew that would change eventually.

It was strange not to be surprised out how Shizuka was turning out. Even before she was born Kagome had known what she would look like. So much like her mother in face, but with hair and ears that were all her father, even though the color was wrong. It had taken a long time before Kagome could look at her daughter and not feel heartbroken at the loss of her husband.

Despite her crankiness on full moons, Shizuka was not one to pout so Kagome knew something was bothering her. Shizuka had been spending the day with Rin and Kaede, and with the flash of powerful youki Kagome had sensed earlier, she had an idea of what the problem may have been.

"What's wrong, Shizuka?" Kagome asked.

"Nothing," Shizuka said, flicking her ear out of Kagome's grasp.

"I think you're lying," Kagome said.

Shizuka heaved a heavy sigh. "Uncle Sesshoumaru doesn't like me very much."

Kagome was a little surprised by the girl's comment. She had seen Sesshoumaru interact with Shizuka and Rin, and for the most part he was silent while Rin and Shizuka chattered away. It was true that while Inuyasha was alive Sesshoumaru had taken many opportunities to berate his brother, but she could hardly imagine him taking a jab at his four-year-old niece.

"What?" Kagome asked, "Why? What did he say to you?"

"Nothing," Shizuka said, and Kagome couldn't quite understand where the girl's problem was.

"Well what's the problem, than?"

"He never says anything to me," Shizuka said and Kagome sighed, giving her daughter a hug.

"Honey, your uncle rarely says anything to anyone," she said.

"He talks to Rin sometimes," Shizuka said. "I still think he hates me."

Hearing the one little word come out of her daughter's mouth broke Kagome's heart. Unlike her father, Shizuka had never known the heartbreak that could come with being part demon and part human. The villagers had learned to accept Inuyasha into their village, so when Shizuka came along none of them bore any ill will toward her. She was treated like any other child in the village, and for the only dislike she had ever known to come from her own blood must have cut her very deeply. It was his continued indifference toward Shizuka that made it hard to believe he had helped her fall asleep all those years ago, and harder to believe that many years from now he would be keeping her in his care

"Oh sweetie, he doesn't hate you," Kagome said, giving her one last hug. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay, mama," Shizuka said.

Kagome stood and brushed the dirt from her knees. She started down the path to Kaede's hut but was barely halfway there when Rin turned the corner and came running towards her, a tall, pale, and very stupid youkai trailing behind her. Kagome caught Sesshoumaru's gaze and narrowed her eyes, to which he responded with that cocky eyebrow of his.

"Kagome! Do you know where Shizuka is? She left and didn't say anything," Rin said, skidding to halt before she could collide with Kagome.

"She's fine Rin. She just came home to tell me something," she said, and shot a poisonous glance over Rin's shoulder. "Sesshoumaru, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Run along, Rin," the taiyoukai said.

"You can go keep Shizuka company for a few minutes," Kagome said, jerking her thumb back towards her hut.

"Okay!" Rin squealed and left Sesshoumaru and Kagome standing alone on the path.

Kagome approached Sesshoumaru and stood toe to toe with him, craning her neck to look into those dangerously narrowed eyes. Kagome couldn't help her heart pounding in her chest. The last time she had stood up to him she had almost been poisoned, though that had been many years ago in his father's tomb.

"What is this about, miko?"

"Sesshoumaru, I would appreciate it if you didn't hurt my daughter's feelings," she said with the most authority she could muster.

"I don't understand," he said.

Of course he didn't understand. When did a mighty demon Lord have time to try and understand something so trivial as his young niece's feelings? Kagome sighed in exasperation.

After all these years Kagome still hadn't figured out how he had grown into the demon that helped her back through the well. Once Inuyasha died she had simply stopped trying to figure it out. She tried her best to put it in the back of her mind and dismiss it. He had acted on a kind whim four years ago, but that was the end of it. Thinking of how he had acted in the future only made her frustrated.

"Sesshoumaru, I know you and Inuyasha didn't have the best of relationships, but that's no reason for you to be so indifferent to Shizuka. She never got the chance to know her father, and I think she would really like the chance to get to know you," she said, and after a pause, she continued, "You and I, we're the only family she has."

"Hnn," he mumbled. He turned away from her, and as he did so Bakusaiga's sheath grazed across her leg.

Kagome remembered another kindness he had done.

"Besides…if it weren't for you, she and I might not even be here right now," she said.

It was horribly true, and she had known it for years. What she hadn't thought of until now was how her husband's death may not have been out of kindness to only her and Shizuka. All at once she wanted to ask him so many things, but could not find the voice to. She let him walk away without another word.

* * *

Kagome stepped out of her hut and out under the dark sky. She watched for a moment as Shizuka and Sango's three children ran around and played with Rin acting as their babysitter. Kokoro and Aiko were currently pleading for Shizuka to show off some of her powers, and Kagome laughed as her little pup leaped into the high boughs of a tree. Kagome shifted her weight slightly and came to stand on something that definitely was not part of the earth.

"Oh," she said, lifting her foot off of Sesshoumaru's sleeve. "How long have you been sitting there?"

He did not answer, only kept his eyes on the four children finding time to frolic before the coming downpour. He did not object when she sat down in the doorway next to him.

It had been a few weeks since she had confronted him, and though he had been very subtle about it, he had taken her words into consideration. Sometimes when he visited he would bring something along as a present for Rin, but recently he had taken Shizuka into consideration as well. He visited the village more often, and he rarely appeared in full battle regalia anymore. The one thing that hadn't changed was his affinity for remaining silent. He even remained silent and still when the rain began to fall and the lightning streaked across the sky.

Kagome quickly stepped inside the doorway. "Rin, Shizuka!" she called, "Come inside! Aiko, Masaru, Kokoro, you go home to your mother! There's lightning!"

Kagome moved aside as the two girls hurried into the hut, giggling and splashing the entire way. She watched as Sango's three children disappeared up the road and then turned her attention to Sesshoumaru, who hadn't moved an inch despite the rain.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, and he met her eyes for only a moment. "Well, the door's open if you want to join us," she said and disappeared inside.

Kagome picked up her sewing again and got to work while Rin and Shizuka sat together in a corner. Shizuka was having a hard time keeping here eyes open and used Rin's lap as a pillow. It wasn't long before both she and Rin were snoring.

The rain began to pound harder and harder against the roof, a constant and soothing sound, and Kagome wasn't surprised that Sesshoumaru finally decided to accept her offer. The rain-soaked demon entered the hut took a seat opposite her, watching silently as she worked. The silence hadn't seemed awkward outside, but in close quarters Kagome found herself squirming to fill the silence.

"Do you sew?" she asked.

The taiyoukai raised his trademark eyebrow.

"I was joking," Kagome said, and the silence continued until Rin and Shizuka began to come around, their yawns and sleepy chatter filling the space the slowing rain left behind.

Kagome stifled a giggle as Shizuka clambered over Rin and across her uncle's fur to peek out the door.

"Mama, the rain has stopped! Can we go outside again?" Shizuka asked, snapping out of her sleepy haze very quickly.

"Okay, just try not to get too wet," she yelled, but Shizuka was already out the door. "Especially you Rin, you'll get sick," she finished, and Rin gave a lazy nod before going outside.

It left her alone with Sesshoumaru, who appeared to have no intentions of moving. It finally gave her the opportunity she had been searching for, just few moments and a few words with him. She wanted to question him about how he felt at Inuyasha death, wanted to thank him for her daughter's life, for his subtle change of ways as of late, but the words seemed to jumble and get lost on the tip of her tongue.

It was the second time she had been alone in close quarters with him, and last time in the shrine he had taken her by surprise with his kiss. For him those events were still far in the future, and it was yet another thing she could not ask him about, but for reasons much more complicated than being tongue-tied.

She was horribly confused, and more about her own feelings than anything else. She couldn't help but remember the way his lips had felt on hers that day long ago, so far past and yet in the future still. Her first real kiss. She had kissed him before she had kissed Inuyasha, and her kisses of both brothers had only a few minutes apart in her timeline, though they were centuries separated in linear time. It was all so strange looking at it through time and space. Her head was spinning. Why was she thinking about all this again?

And when the hell had her fingers found their way into his fur?

"Miko," he said, and Kagome dropped both his pelt and her sewing.

They stared at each other for a amount, Kagome very conscious of how heavy she was breathing. She managed to calm herself and give him a weak smile.

"You are distressed," he remarked, and Kagome laughed.

"Just a little," she said, "But I'm fine now. You know, you don't have to call me 'miko' all the time. I have a name. It's Kagome."

"I am aware of your name, Kagome," he said.

Gods, her name rolled nicely off his tongue. It was a thought she immediately kicked herself for. What the hell was she doing?

But perhaps she was thinking about it too much. She had seen the future, and she knew that if she shed her inhibitions perhaps the pieces would fall together. It was written in time, and who was she to reject fate?

They were just two lonely people, after all. It made sense.

He looked at her strangely when she moved closer to him, and a muscle in his leg twitched when she put her hand on his knee.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice flat.

Her answer was her kiss, and she was more than a bit surprised that he made no attempt to pull away from her. He also made no effort to kiss her back. He simply let her do as she pleased, and Kagome gently teased his lips apart, running her tongue over his fangs. He kissed her then, his hands claiming her hips. She smiled in their kiss and worked on exposing his chest, pulling back the silky material and running her hands over his cool skin. She untied his hakama and gave a gentle push to his chest, putting him flat on his back.

She peeled back layers of clothing to leave him bare and in all his glory. She took his length in hand and gave him a few gentle strokes before running her tongue over him, slowly from base to tip. She swirled her tongue over the head before taking as much of him as she could into her mouth. His body vibrated with a satisfied moan. As she worked at him, she could feel his hands in her hair, holding her down and urging her on. He bucked up against her when her hand found his balls, giving him a rough squeeze.

Kagome could tell he was close to his climax when he uttered a feral growl, but before he could come he was pulling her up and off of him by the hair. In a blur of movement, Kagome soon found their positions reversed, she on her back with him looming over her. She had clamped her legs together as he rearranged them and he now leaned over her knees, carefully undoing the ties on her clothing. Soon she lay naked before him, but when he tugged on her closed knees she did not budge.

"You have the audacity to put me on my back, yet you're afraid to open your legs for me?" he growled and nipped playfully at her thigh. Slowly, Kagome opened herself up to him.

She wanted him so badly, but at the same time she couldn't help but be a little intimidated.

He covered her with his body, and Kagome sighed as his tongue trailed upwards from her navel. She gasped as a fang grazed her sensitive nipple and a claw tweaked it's twin. His hair was silk gliding across her skin, and when his tongue reached her neck she could feel his length pressing against her. She gasped as he entered her, and after a few moments she fell into rhythm with him.

It was pleasure and it was pain. It was the beginning of a centuries old love, touched with sadness and shadowed in loss.

Kagome came hard for him, biting into his shoulder to muffle her cry. He followed soon after and Kagome held him close, placing a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

He rolled away from her and began to sit up, but Kagome wrapped her arms around his middle and pulled him back down.

"Stay a little longer, please?" she asked, and Sesshoumaru settled in next to her. He rolled over to face her and took her in his arms. Kagome wrapped her legs around his waist. She snuggled against him as he blanketed her in his pelt.

There was silence for a few moments, but Kagome eventually found the courage to fill it.

"You respected Inuyasha in the end, didn't you?" she asked.

"The manner of his death did not please me," he said, both evading and answering the question in full, as he had quite a talent for doing.

More silence. It was Sesshoumaru who spoke next.

"What do you see becoming of this?" he asked.

"All I know is that we've both had our hearts broken. Maybe we can do each other some good," Kagome said and kissed him again. She laid her hand over his heart and took comfort in its rhythm.

Kagome dozed off for awhile, only to have Sesshoumaru gently shake her awake again.

"Shizuka and Rin are returning," he said, and Kagome untangled herself from him.

They dressed and resumed their positions on either side of the room. Kagome picked up her sewing again and each did their best to pretend nothing had happened between them.


	6. Demon's Memory

Sesshoumaru looked out the window at Shizuka and Souta, who were out in the yard throwing the baseball around between them. They were joking and laughing like old friends, as if they had known each other their entire lives.

Sesshoumaru turned to face Mrs. Higurashi as she resumed her seat opposite him, a new cup of tea in her hands. Judging by the look in her eye, she had many questions ready to be asked. Whether or not he would have the answers she sought was something else entirely.

"You know, Sesshoumaru, I consider myself to be a rather insightful woman," said Mrs. Higurashi, sipping her tea.

"I have no doubt that you are," he said.

They had told her everything, or at least everything they had told Souta. Such was not the complete story, and Sesshoumaru had no doubt that Mrs. Higurashi was quite aware of that fact.

He was surprised how well she had taken everything. Souta was right when he said nothing at all could phase her. She had taken the death of Inuyasha, the loss of her daughter and the arrival of her granddaughter with smiles and hugs. Sesshoumaru had no doubt she would take the whole truth of his relationship with Kagome just as easily.

"I think there was more between you and my daughter than you told Souta and I," Mrs. Higurashi said.

"There was," he replied simply.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"It is not easy for me to discuss," Sesshoumaru said, his eyes drifting away from her and out the window again. "I saw her die hundreds of years ago, and in this era I could only watch from a distance as she grew and lived her life. And today I had to lose my mate all over again. I had no choice."

He knew her next question before she even began to ask it, and he was very sure of his answer.

"Did you love her?"

"Yes," he replied. He could admit his love for Kagome so easily now, although that had not always been the case. "I still do."

"Did you take good care of my Kagome?" she asked.

"I like to believe I did, yes," he said. He had tried his best, but Kagome had still been faced with more than her fair share of pain. All of them had. Such was the norm in the Sengoku Jidai.

He was surprised when Mrs. Higurashi laid her hand over one of his.

"I know you did," she said, giving him a gentle pat. "You've taken care of my granddaughter all these years, and I can't thank you enough for that."

It was quiet for a few moments. Sesshoumaru watched Shizuka and Souta outside. They had ended their play and were sitting in the grass together, talking about something or other. He watched as Shizuka grabbed Souta by the neck and proceeded to mess up his hair. Souta fought back by ripping off her hat and flicking her ears. He could hear their laughter through the closed window.

"They seem to be getting along nicely," Mrs. Higurashi remarked.

"Indeed."

"Can I ask you something?" Mrs. Higurashi asked suddenly.

"Hnn?"

"You're not going to act like a stranger, are you?"

"I don't understand," he said.

"Family is very important to me, Sesshoumaru, and I have so little of it left. Kagome is gone, and my father died a year ago. The only family I have left is right here in this house with me, and that includes you."

"You…" he began. It was something he had not quite expected, for her to except a man, a demon not of her blood and whom she barely knew, into her family. He may have been her daughter's mate, but he had not expected such kindness. "You consider me part of your family?"

"Yes," she said with a laugh, as a such a thing should have been obvious. "I don't want you to feel like a stranger in this house. If Kagome loved and trusted you enough to be your wife, that makes you a son to me."

Sesshoumaru could find nothing to say to her. He let his silence speak for him.

"Are you sure you don't want any tea?" she asked.

"Perhaps I will," he said, and she bustled away to put the kettle on.

When she set the mug down in front of him, his nose twitched at the pleasant scent of honey and lemon. She sat down next to him with a new cup of her own.

"So, you mentioned that there are two more demons I have yet to meet," she said.

"Yes, the kitsune and nekomata. They should arrive back in Japan in a few days," Sesshoumaru said, taking a sip. He raised a sly eyebrow. "Do you have intentions of adopting them into your family as well?"

"I haven't adopted any of you," she said with a smile. "All of you have always been my family."

This woman seemed to insist on tugging at his heartstrings every few minutes. Again he could find no proper response.

"You'll stay for dinner, won't you?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, and Mrs. Higurashi got up and opened the window to call outside.

"Souta!" she yelled, "Come to the store with me, I need to get some things for dinner!"

Shizuka and Souta left their gloves in the grass and disappeared for a few moments before reappearing in the kitchen.

Shizuka sat down at the table, but once Mrs. Higurashi and Souta were out the door, in the car and gone, she wandered away from him. Sesshoumaru could hear her footsteps on the stairs, and he waited awhile before following her. He found her upstairs in a room drenched in Kagome's sweet scent. The room was done in soft pink and yellow colors, bright colors that perfectly echoed the loving woman Kagome had been. Smelling her scent and seeing her name scribbled on papers scattered across her desk made his heart ache.

He missed her more than he could ever admit, even to himself.

Shizuka was sitting with her legs crossed on the bed, a frilly pillow crushed to her chest. A photo album was spread open on the pink bedspread, and Shizuka was staring blankly at a single page. She almost seemed to be frozen in time, barely giving so much as a single blink. Shizuka said nothing as Sesshoumaru sat down on the bed and flipped through the pages, looking at the pictures with her.

There was a younger Kagome in her school uniform, surrounded by her friends. Inuyasha was there too, his ears covered by a checkered cloth. Pictures of a Souta not yet in his teens, of Kagome's lost grandfather and Mrs. Higurashi herself, a smile always on her face. There were many people he did not know, nameless faces that had once been part of Kagome's life, people who would never see her again and never know the truth of what happened to her.

The last picture in the album was of Kagome in a floral sundress and sitting beneath Goshinboku. She was smiling and waving at the camera, a much happier girl than the one he had pushed back through the well. She would find that happiness again in the past.

He ran his claws over the photo, his head swimming in her scent. He would never forget the smile captured there in that photo. He pulled himself out of his reminiscing at the smell of tears, and a small sniffle from beside him.

"You cry?"

Shizuka groaned and wiped her eyes on the frilly pink pillow. Her ears drooped miserably down against her head.

"Yeah, what about it?" she said, trying her best to sound annoyed. The result was more a whine than anything else. "I miss her, too, you know. She was my mother."

"I know," Sesshoumaru said, and he placed his hand atop her head as she leaned her weight on his shoulder.

"Uncle Sess?" Shizuka said in a small voice.

"Hnn?"

"Thanks for hanging with me all these years. I know I'm a pain in the ass sometimes," she said, and Sesshoumaru scoffed, tousling her hair.

"Nonsense," he said, a smirk overtaking his face. "You're a pain all the time."

"Hey," she said in protest, but laughed anyway.

It may have been his brother's blood running through her veins, but he and Kagome had raised her, and it was he that had cared for her all these years. Though he may hit her in back of the head every now and then, Shizuka was his child. And though he would never say so, he was proud of her.


	7. Demon's Guidance

It was not yet morning when Kagome woke. She shivered against the cold, but soon there was a pair of warm hands to chase away the chill. Gentle claws caressed her, and soft lips heated her blood.

"Well hello to you, too," she said and rolled over onto her back.

There was a wanton growl, and she was consumed by her bedmate's heat. For the second time that night, they found each other in the darkness.

The next time Kagome arose from slumber the darkness had given way to early morning. The space beside her was empty, and she rose to find Sesshoumaru already up and about, getting himself dressed. He left without a word, but he would come back. He always did.

Kagome flopped back down onto the sheets and tried to snooze, but it wasn't long before she felt a slight pressure on the end of her futon. Cracking an eye, she saw her daughter looking expectantly at her.

"Morning, sweetie," Kagome said, her voice gravelly with sleep.

"Morning, mama," Shizuka said with a wide smile, "Lady Kaede asked us to help her today, remember?"

Kagome groaned. She had almost forgotten about that. All the herbs and vegetables in Kaede's garden needed to be picked before they were ruined by the first frost of the season, which would be occurring very soon. The old miko, her bones becoming increasingly painful with age, enlisted the help of more able-bodied women to accomplish the task. It would take Kagome, Shizuka, Rin, and Sango an entire day's work to harvest the vast plot.

Kagome yawned. "I remember. Get dressed and we'll walk there together, okay?"

"Okay!" Shizuka exclaimed, and was out the door like a little demon whirlwind.

Giving a wide yawn, Kagome forced herself out of the cozy sheets and got dressed. As she moved to quickly fold up the tousled sheets, Shizuka's voice rang through the hut. "Mama, Lady Sango is here!"

It was quickly followed by a knock on the wall outside her room. "Can I come in, Kagome?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, come on in," Kagome said, and Sango drifted through the curtain, her hands folded in front of her.

"Good morning Kagome," Sango said.

"Morning," Kagome replied, cocking her head. She could tell by Sango's stiff posture and nervous smile that something wasn't quite right.

"Are you okay, Sango?" Kagome asked.

Sango couldn't seem to keep eye contact. "Well, actually there was something I wanted to ask you."

"What?"

"Well," Sango said, rubbing at the back of her neck. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Never mind."

"No, what is it?" Kagome persisted. She had a feeling she knew what was coming anyway.

"Well, its just that I've noticed Sesshoumaru is spending a lot of time around you…" Sango said, and Kagome sighed inwardly. Just as she had suspected. "And coming up the road this morning, I saw him leaving your house. Is there anything going on?"

There was no point in denying their relationship. Everyone would find out sooner or later that Sesshoumaru was spending almost every night with her, but Kagome wasn't quite sure what to say. The nature of their relationship was a curious one.

"I don't even know how to say this," Kagome started. "But we…have a relationship."

Sango's brow wrinkled. "What do you mean?" she questioned, and Kagome gave a very dramatic roll of her eyes. "No! You mean, you two are…"

"Yes," Kagome said, and a weight seemed to lift from her chest.

"How did it happen?"

"I don't know…" Kagome said. There was no possible way she could explain. Sesshoumaru's changed future self and what had happened between them was something Kagome would have to take to her grave, lest she disturb time and space even more. "It's complicated."

"Kagome…" Sango said, and crossed the room to put a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you sure about this?"

The answer left her lips with swift surety. "Yes, I am."

* * *

Eight years had passed, and some things had changed. In the beginning, rumors surrounding Kagome and Sesshoumaru's relationship had swirled and spread like wildfire, but as time went on it became common knowledge. Sesshoumaru became a fixture in the village. He stayed at Kagome's side and stepped into a larger guardian role to Shizuka, and also to Rin and her growing family. Over time, the wary villagers became desensitized to his intimidating presence.

The passing of eight years had also seen the death of Kaede and the marriage of Kohaku and Rin. The taijya and his wife were starting a family of their own, and according to Sango's speculations Rin's heavily rounded middle meant her little brother would soon have twins of his own.

Shizuka celebrated her twelfth birthday, and it was to nobody's surprise, especially Kagome's, that Shizuka was growing into almost an exact duplicate of Inuyasha. The way she spoke, the way she carried herself, her mannerisms all reflected her late father. Kagome wasn't surprised when Shizuka began to ask questions about her father, and also wasn't surprised that Shizuka began to take an interest in the old heirloom that hung on the wall.

"Shizuka," Kagome said, taking a seat next to her daughter. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Shizuka said and continued to stare.

"Just staring at the wall, huh?" Kagome said smartly, and Shizuka rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I'm looking at what's on the wall, mother," she replied. Kagome giggled.

She joined her daughter in examining the sword for a moment. For over twelve years it had hung on the wall untouched and silent, without a master to wield it. That haughty sword that could slay a hundred demons in a single strike, the sword that had saved Kagome's life a thousand times over. For twelve years Tetsusaiga slumbered, but Kagome thought it wouldn't be long before it would awake and find a new master.

"It's late, sweetie. Get some sleep," Kagome said.

"Keh, okay," Shizuka said, giving the sword one last hard look before trudging off to bed.

* * *

It was the second time in two nights that Kagome awoke alone. It wasn't unusual for Sesshoumaru to wake even before the twilight, but it was strange that he should disappear in the dead of night. The previous night Kagome had rolled over and gone back to sleep only to find him back at her side in the morning. But now she was curious. She slowly padded out of her room with only small slivers of moonlight to see by. She immediately saw what was missing. She ran into Shizuka's room only to find that she was not in bed, either.

She ran outside, looking frantically around the house. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light in the woods. Without a second thought, she ran into the trees. The flashes of light came far and in between, guiding Kagome to small clearing. At first she didn't see anything, but then Sesshoumaru burst from the trees, followed closely by Shizuka. Bakusaiga and Tetsusaiga clashed in a flare of light, followed by Shizuka falling on her behind and stringing together a number of profanities. Kagome exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"That is enough for now," Sesshoumaru said, sheathing Bakusaiga.

"Keh, that's it?" Shizuka said as Tetsusaiga resumed the shape of a rusty katana. She sheathed the sword and got to her feet, hitting her head on a low tree branch. "Damn it!"

"Your timing is atrocious," Sesshoumaru remarked.

"Excuse me for not having five-hundred years experience like some people, _sensei_. I'm going back to bed," Shizuka said, and slumped past Kagome and back through the woods. "Hi mom."

Kagome listened as Shizuka crunched through the underbrush, her cursing growing fainter and fainter as she went.

"Watch your mouth, young lady!" Kagome called, and turned around when she felt Sesshoumaru's pelt brush against her. She took him in a tight embrace.

"You guys scared me to death, you know," Kagome said. Sesshoumaru didn't answer, but wrapped an arm around her. "So, you're teaching her to fight?"

He raised an eyebrow and inclined his chin. "What of it?"

Kagome smiled. "Nothing. Although I'm a bit confused as to why you're doing this in the dark."

"She relies on her eyes. She must train her other senses," he said.

"Oh," Kagome said, and smiled.

She was glad Sesshoumaru was giving Shizuka his guidance. As a human, Kagome could only do so much for her daughter. Sesshoumaru was the demon influence Shizuka needed in her life, as well as the father figure. Shizuka needed him just as much as Kagome did.

It was funny. There had been a point in her life when Kagome had considered Sesshoumaru an enemy. Now she couldn't imagine her life without him. She loved his comforting silences, tender touches and innate authority.

She loved all of him, yet she had never told him so. After eight years together, it was well past due.

"I love you, Sesshoumaru," she said. She knew he wouldn't respond in kind, but she didn't expect him to tense in her hold for a moment.

Much to her relief he relaxed and threaded his fingers through her hair, but Kagome couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind.


	8. Demon's Blood

"Mom, what are you doing?" Shizuka asked, and Kagome looked up at her daughter in confusion. Shizuka pointed down at the large pile of vegetables next to her.

"Oh," Kagome said, and looked down at her work.

Rin had inherited Kaede's garden along with her hut, but since Rin was so heavily pregnant Kagome took it upon herself to tend to the plot. The garden had been very productive this year, and in today's gathering alone Kagome found herself up to her elbows in radishes, turnips, onions and countless herbs. She had been so lost in thought she hadn't realized she had placed nearly a dozen turnips into a single bundle. She sighed and created a new bundle with the excess of vegetables.

She had been lost in thought a lot lately. It had been nearly two weeks since Kagome had discovered Sesshoumaru training Shizuka, and nearly that long since she, or anyone else in the village, had seen Sesshoumaru. Kagome was used to him going off for a day or two on his own. He was Lord of the West, after all. He had an obligation to protect and watch over his lands, but he also had an obligation to the people that loved him. In all their years together, it was longest time that he had stayed away, and Kagome was worried.

She wasn't worried that something had happened to him. There wasn't a youkai in the world that could intimidate him, but Kagome was afraid that she had done just that. Kagome wondered just how many people told Sesshoumaru that they loved him. Even with a life as long as his, Kagome didn't think there were many, if any at all besides herself. Even Rin had never told him so.

"I was just bundling these vegetables up for everyone. Here," Kagome said, tying up the finished food arrangements and placing them in a single basket. "One is for Sango, one is for Rin, and one is for Shippo. He loves radishes."

She handed the basket up to Shizuka, who slung it easily over her back.

"You okay, ma?" Shizuka asked, and Kagome smiled listlessly.

"I guess," Kagome said. "I'm just worried about your uncle. He hasn't been gone from the village for this long since you were little."

"Kitsune Inn is pretty far. I'll see if I can catch his scent on the way to see Shippo," Shizuka said.

"Okay, hun. Be careful. And come back before dark!" Kagome said, and watched as Shizuka dashed away toward Rin's hut.

"Okay!" she called back, and Kagome waved her goodbye.

* * *

  
After dropping the vegetable bundles off to Rin and Sango, Shizuka cut through the forest to the east and in the direction of the Kitsune Inn. Tetsusaiga swayed at her hip as she ran. Since Uncle Sesshoumaru had started training her, the sword never left her sight. Even though Sesshoumaru was absent, Shizuka continued training by herself. She practiced what he had shown her over and over again when there was no other work to be done, and sometimes she would even sneak away at night and practice by herself in the forest. She was a bit glad her mother only had a human's dull senses. If she knew Shizuka was sneaking out alone at night, she would do no less than go on a tirade.

Shizuka wasn't quite sure why her uncle had been away so long, but she didn't think he had traveled very far from home. She caught his scent in the forest, and it grew fresher as she continued.

As she neared the Kitsune Inn, Shizuka became aware that she was not alone.

She swerved as she ran and the following aura mimicked her movements, keeping in a perfect line with her. What did the bastard think he was doing?

Shizuka jumped into the branches of a tree, unsheathing Tetsusaiga. She held the blade over her head as she leaped, coming face to face with a pair of horrid golden eyes that glared up at her. There were angry, gnashing fangs and a forked tongue that flicked up at her feet. Tetsusaiga came down on the scales of a serpentine youkai body, and blood spurted over her face and hands. The youkai screamed and twisted itself around the trunk of a tree before launching at her again.

Shizuka's heart drummed madly in her chest. It was her first real opponent, and she would not fail.

"Kaze no Kizu!" she yelled, and dug her feet into the ground as the recoil from the massive attack drove her backwards.

The swirl of white light ripped through the snake youkai, and Shizuka's ears twitched with the sound of his hissing scream. He fell to the forest floor in two cleanly cut halves. Shizuka sheathed the sword and watched as the halved corpse disintegrated, leaving nothing but a pile of gray ashes behind. She poked her foot into the ashy pile and the wind carried them away, leaving no trace of the youkai behind.

A fang popped out over her lip as she smiled. "Hell yes."

She took to the trees for the rest of the journey, hopping her way through the high boughs and keeping an eye on the ground below for any more signs of trouble. Eventually she leaped onto the shingled roof of the Inn. She crouched down and concentrated for a moment, tightly closing her eyes and focusing her efforts. Her senses weren't keen enough to detect distant auras unless she really put her mind to it.

On the fringes of her conscious, she could feel them. More snake youkai, dozens of them, and one other aura that was far stronger than the rest, like a hot poker pressing into her head. Shizuka opened her eyes and scoffed. She would deal with that aura in a minute.

She leaped down from the rooftop and into the doorway. She slid the doors open and stepped into the hall.

"Hey Shippo! You home?!" she called. A number of sleepy kitsune poked their heads curiously out from their rooms.

Shizuka took a step backward as a mesmerizing swirl of foxfire materialized in front of her. The fire gradually burned itself out to reveal a bushy-tailed teen with smiling green eyes.

"Shizuka!" Shippo yelled, and Shizuka grunted as she was bombarded with the force of Shippo's hug.

"Hi Shippo," Shizuka said, and took a breath as he released her. "Here," she said, pushing the basket into his chest. "From my mom."

Shippo took the basket and the two went outside to sit on the Inn's steps. Shippo immediately plopped down to rummage through the various vegetables.

"Hey, there's radishes in here," he said. Shizuka rolled her eyes as he took a radish and roasted it in a palm full of foxfire. She watched him eat a few more radishes before she got to her feet.

"Hey Shippo, I'll be back in a minute, 'kay?" she said.

"Where you going?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

"To see an idiot about my uncle," she quipped.

Shippo swallowed noisily. "Yeah? I've sensed Sesshoumaru hanging around south of here since yesterday."

"Yeah? Well, I'll be back," she said, and ran down the steps. She circled around the building and to the south, following the steady increase in her uncle's aura.

Shizuka's nose wrinkled at the smell of blood, while her uncle's aura flared with a power she had never seen him use. She ran as fast as she could and crashed through the bush where he was standing just in time to see him dispatch a serpent youkai, a bright yellow mononoke with a red cobra's hood. The snake fell at the taiyoukai's feet and he sheathed his sword, not acknowledging Shizuka in the slightest.

"Where have you been?" Shizuka asked, folding her arms into her sleeves.

He gave a brief glance over his shoulder.

"I have been keeping watch over my lands. What are you doing so far from the village?" he asked. He did not turn around.

"Visiting Shippo," Shizuka replied. "You know, mom's worried about you."

"She has nothing to fear," he said, and Shizuka was taken aback by the callousness behind it, as if they had no business caring what he did or where he was.

"Really? You've never stayed away this long, so of course she's gonna worry," Shizuka nearly snarled.

"I will not let the worries of others dictate my actions. I will return in my own time," he said, thoroughly surprising her.

She had heard stories of the man her uncle had once been. She had been told there was a time when he would give no second thought to killing a human, a time when he traveled with no one but himself for company. He had tried to kill her father for the purpose of gaining Tetsusaiga, and she had even been told he had tried to kill her mother. It was something which she had never believed. Shizuka had always known her uncle to be silent and sometimes a bit distant, but never the heartless thing she heard stories about. She knew he loved her mother, and to imagine him trying to take her life was unthinkable. Now, hearing the icy edge to his voice, she thought she might just understand.

"Wow, you sounded like a real bastard just then, you know?" she said, and Sesshoumaru finally turned around, eyes narrowed in a deadly glare. He raised an eyebrow as Shizuka growled at him. "Come home soon."

Shizuka left him then, turning back toward the Inn. She had no idea what exactly was eating at him, but she supposed it had something to do with her mother. Perhaps if he stopped avoiding her enough to talk to her they could work out whatever it was. Shizuka didn't like the look in his eye either. She was young, but she wasn't dense. His eyes spoke of anger, but there was a sadness behind them as well.

When she got back to the Inn, Shippo was right where she left him. He was occupying himself by whittling. Shizuka watched as a little dog began appearing out of the block of wood in his hands.

"Did you find him?" Shippo asked.

"Yeah," Shizuka said, plopping herself down next to him. "Ass."

Shippo's busy hands went limp for a moment as he snorted with laughter. He sighed and shook his head. "Not as big a one as he used to be," he said. "He is helping get rid of the snake youkai. They've been all over the place lately."

Shizuka thought she could have argued over just how big of an ass he was being, but let the subject drop.

"I got attacked by one of those damn snakes coming here," she said.

"Really? And you're not dead?" Shippo asked smartly.

"Hey, watch it runt," Shizuka said, and gave him a firm slap to the back of the head.

"Runt? I'm fifty years older than you!" Shippo yelled.

"Yeah, but still the same height as me."

"No! I am so tal-" he began, but Shizuka's hand closed over his mouth to silence him.

"Shut up for a second," Shizuka said, and Shippo's eyes went wide as a tree fell in the distance.

That tree was followed by another, and another, until the forest was overcome with the sound of snapping wood. It grew closer and closer until they could see the trees falling over like a row of tiles, forced to the ground by the hissing mass of red and black slithering their way.

Shizuka drew her sword and leaped from the steps of the Inn to meet the emerging youkai. She was stunned when two gaping mouths came rushing at her, fangs dripping with yellow poison. Two cobra hoods flared out, and the single massive body they shared between them destroyed everything in its path.

"Kaze no Kizu!"

The attack ripped through the space between them. She was nearly blinded by the attack's yellow light, and was ready to claim her victory. There was no possible way the thing could have survived, but when the Wind Scar faded away the snake was still in once piece, curled into a giant, scaly coil.

The two heads reared up from the center of the coil, seeming to laugh at her attempt to destroy them.

"Think that's funny, do ya? Well what about this?" she said, and with a wave the sword's blade changed into a diamond pattern. "Kongosouha!"

Diamond slivers pierced the snake's tough scales, snapping a fang off from the left head. The snake bled heavily, but lost none of its speed as its heads darted for her. As Shizuka was deciding how she was going to fend off two hungry mouths at the same time, a stone kitsune statue landed on the right head, effectively crushing it to the ground.

Shizuka wedged her sword between the second head's descending fangs. It hissed as a wave of foxfire dashed across its eyes. Shizuka and the snake fought for dominance as Shippo continued his fiery barrage. Shizuka forced the snake back a few inches, only to have her feet skid back a foot.

She yelled as she felt her feet began to leave the ground completely. She looked down to find the snake's tail curling around her ankle.

She tried to keep a hold on Tetsusaiga as she was lifted upside down into the air, but the snake's fangs remained clamped down on the blade and the handle slipped from her fingers. She watched as the snake's mouth opened and Tetsusaiga fell to the ground, now just a rusted katana.

This definitely wasn't good. Her uncle had not been gentle when he told her what might happen should she ever do battle without Tetsusaiga.

The world became a confused blur of colors as the snake pulled her down into the main coil of its body. A horrible pressured formed in her head as the youkai began to squeeze her. She could hear Shippo calling her name, but he sounded distant and muffled. She saw one last flash of green fire before everything started fading to black.

"Shizuka! Hold on!" Shippo shouted.

While the body squeezed Shizuka, the head turned it's attention onto him. He used every trick he knew, even old ones he rarely used any more. Spinning tops, mushrooms, giant acorns. He even transformed himself into a large snake. The youkai looked confused for a moment. Shippo hissed and stared it down, but when he could no longer hold his transformation, the snake came at him with renewed anger. Fangs threatened to pierce him, but the head fell limp before he could be skewered.

Shippo watched with wide eyes as blood erupted from the main curl of the body. The curl was ripped open in a gory display to reveal Shizuka, standing tall in the center of the carnage.

It took him a moment to wake up from his amazed stupor.

"That was amazing, Shizuka!" Shippo yelled. He ran at her, and instead of the thanks he expected, he received claws to his face.

"Shizuka, what the hell?!" Shippo yelled. He placed his palm to his cheek and came away with blood.

Shizuka reared her head and snarled. The warm brown of her eyes had bled into an ugly red, her tiny blue pupils staring the kitsune down. The color slowly drained from Shippo's face, his blood running cold at the sight of his transformed friend.

"Oh, shit."

* * *

"Kagome," Rin said happily, "What brings you?"

Kagome entered the hut and kneeled down beside Rin and her husband, who were just finishing up their dinner. Kirara mewled and curled up at Kagome's side, purring as Kagome patted her.

"I was wondering if you'd seen Shizuka since this afternoon. It's getting a little late and she hasn't come home from visiting Shippo yet," Kagome said.

"We haven't seen her. But she's probably fine," Rin said with a shrug. "You know how Shippo is. He can talk for hours if you let him."

Kohaku caught Rin's eye for moment, and the worried look he gave her was not lost on Kagome. Kagome quickly turned to the taijiya.

"You know something, don't you?" she asked, and Kohaku gulped nervously as she gripped his sleeve.

"Well, the youkai populations in these woods has been growing for the last month or two…" he said, his teeth rattling in his head as Kagome tugged roughly on his kosode.

"What do you mean?"

Kagome let him go when Rin's hand fell on her shoulder. "Don't be worried, Kagome. Shizuka is part demon, too. And she has Tetsusaiga with her."

"I don't care if she had an army with her," Kagome said, getting to her feet. "I'm going to check on her. Come on, Kirara, you're coming with me for a while."

Kirara obediently followed Kagome out of the hut. The nekomata changed into her larger form in a flash of fire and took flight when Kagome settled on her back.

Rin and Kohaku watched from the ground as they flew over the trees and out of sight.

It was hard to see the forest floor through the thick cover of trees. Nothing seemed out of place. Until she saw the long path of destruction.

Fallen trees and a few smashed shrines, a long and winding path of devastated forest. At the end of the whole mess sat the Kitsune Inn, and Kagome could barely make out a few figures standing in the clearing. She recognized Shippo and Shizuka immediately, but it took a little longer for her to realize what the giant mass beside them was. An enormous snake mononoke, its green scales spattered in blood and its body sliced into numerous pieces.

"Shizuka! Shippo!" Kagome called.

"Kagome!" Shippo called, and Kagome could hear the panic in his voice.

As Kirara descended, Kagome could see the strange way Shizuka's back was hunched, her ears drawn back against her head. She could feel the girl's strong aura, and heard her low, rumbling growl. Both of them were streaked with blood. And there was Tetsusaiga, laying abandoned on the ground.

Kagome jumped from Kirara's back even before they landed.

"Shizuka…" Kagome said, approaching her very slowly.

Shizuka turned around and Kagome's heart leapt into her throat. There was no recognition in Shizuka's red eyes, and she only growled in response. She was covered in the slain youkai's blood.

"Shizuka, it's me, your mother. You know me, don't you?"

What had once worked for the father, had no effect on the daughter. She had once brought Inuyasha back from his madness with gentle words, but Shizuka's response was a calculated lunge, claws and fangs bared.

Claws grazed across her cheek before Shizuka was shoved away by Kirara. Shizuka took hold of Kirara's fur and threw her to the side. She clashed with Shippo and both kitsune and nekomata were slammed into a tree.

"Shizuka!" Kagome yelled, drawing her attention away from the injured pair. Shizuka came at her again.

Kagome was horrified to feel so frightened of her own flesh and blood. Horrified at what she knew she had to do.

She screamed as Shizuka lashed at her again. She grabbed one of the girl's sleeves as claws dug into her shoulder. Kagome unleashed her reiki and Shizuka howled. Kagome could no longer hold back her tears. She had purified her own child.

Shizuka backed away, looking a bit stunned. There was a burnt patch on her sleeve, and the revealed skin of her arm was blistered from Kagome's power. Shizuka's confusion soon turned to anger, and Kagome knew she would come at her again. She wouldn't be able to purify her a second time.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Shizuka was supposed to live a long, happy life. Maybe the future had all been a terrible lie.

Before Shizuka could reach Kagome, Shizuka was spirited away in a flash of white and red. Kagome shielded her face and waited for the blow that never came.

Sesshoumaru was there when she opened her eyes. He had Shizuka by the throat and was pinning her against a tree. Shizuka's feet pushed against his breastplate, while her hands closed around his wrist. Her claws ravaged his doubled stripes and blood dripped down the length of his arm. Shizuka let out a strangled roar and Sesshoumaru's closed his fist tighter around her neck. Shizuka's tongue lolled out of her mouth like a bloated fish.

"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome yelled. She ran to him and wrapped both her arms around his middle. She tried with all her might to pull him away from Shizuka. "Stop! You'll choke her to death!"

The taiyoukai did not budge. He looked over his shoulder and at the grief-stricken mother. "Would you rather I run Bakusaiga through her?"

Kagome stared into his solemn face. For a moment she couldn't comprehend why his stoic eyes seemed to waver behind a liquid glaze. Tears poured down Kagome's cheeks as she desperately screamed her only child's name.

"Shizuka! Snap out of it! Please!"

Gasps and terrible strangled noises wrenched Kagome's heart. Shizuka's claws began to cut into her own neck as she struggled for air. Kagome watched as the red slowly drained from daughter's eyes. They turned back to brown only to roll upwards in her head and leave nothing but the whites behind. Sesshoumaru gradually released his hold on her, letting her limp body slump down against the base of the tree.

Kagome fell to the ground and gathered Shizuka in her arms. She searched for and found a pulse at Shizuka's bloodied neck, though it was very weak.

"Shizuka…" Kagome cried, burying her face in a tangle of black hair.

Her body was racked with sobs, and she was grateful for the strong hands on her shoulders to steady her.


	9. Demon's Love

Sesshoumaru laid his niece gently down on her futon, and both he and kitsune boy turned their backs as Kagome removed her unconscious daughter of her bloody clothes. She put Shizuka in a clean yukata, then left the room to fetch a cloth and water to clean Shizuka's wounds. Shippo sat at Shizuka's side with Tetsusaiga in his lap. He hadn't put the sword down since they left the Inn. Sesshoumaru could see the boy was trying his best not to sniffle, but was failing miserably. His shoulders rose and fell with small sobs.

"Boy," Sesshoumaru said and Shippo wiped his eyes on his sleeve before turning around. Sesshoumaru inclined his head toward Shizuka. "Would she approve?"

Shippo looked down at his friend who lay as still as the grave, save the slow rise and fall of her chest. She wouldn't approve at all. She'd probably slap him in the head and tell him to stop crying over her. Shippo gave one last sniffle and sat himself up straight.

Kagome returned with damp cloths and small bowls of warm water. The two watched as the water in one gradually turned a deep red with the blood cleaned from Shizuka's skin. Kagome saved washing Shizuka's purified arm for last, and tears silently fell over her cheeks. When she was done, she remained kneeling at Shizuka's side, twisting the wet cloth around in her shaking hands.

"I'll stay with her, Kagome," Shippo said, placing his hand on both of hers.

Kagome smiled weakly and hugged the kitsune. She left him sitting sentinel over Shizuka while she went into her room. Sesshoumaru ghosted along behind her, closing the curtain behind them.

He watched in silence as she changed her clothes and prepared her futon. Instead of rolling into bed, she remained kneeling beside it and heaved a heavy sigh. She looked up at him with the most miserable expression he had ever seen. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed heavily in red, her hair tangled. She had even tied her obi crooked around her waist.

"Will she be okay?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "Her body lacks strength to contain a full-demon soul. She will be in pain, but she will live."

Kagome nodded and buried her face in her hands.

He threw down his swords and took off his breastplate. He kneeled down beside her and turned her to face him. He lifted her head, wiping a wayward tear from the corner of her eye. He then peeled back the collar of her yukata. The scratches Shizuka had left on her shoulder were red and enflamed. He could smell the infection beginning to set in already. She gasped as he leaned in and ran his tongue across the wounds.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"It will help you heal," he said, and Kagome allowed herself to relax. One of her hands found its way into his hair.

"Why were you gone so long?" she finally asked.

He ran his tongue over the scratches on her cheek before he answered. "I required time alone," he said simply.

"Why?" she asked, though she thought she already knew. "You don't know how you feel about me?"

"I know my own heart," he said, shaking his head. "That that is not why I stayed away."

"What do you mean?"

"Kagome…" he said, and looked away. Kagome cupped his chin and made him look into her eyes.

"Tell me," she said forcefully.

"We are mismatched," he deadpanned, and Kagome felt her heart sink in her chest.

"What are you talking about?"

"I am a taiyoukai. You are a human miko. You will grow old and die. I will not, and our union will never bear fruit."

It was nothing she didn't already know. She knew since before they were even a couple that she would die long before him and that Shizuka was the only child she would ever carry. Though, after eight years of unprotected sex with him she was a bit puzzled as to why.

"Why? I carried Shizuka to term."

"Shizuka is more human than demon," he sighed. "It is the only reason you were able to birth her. Any heir of mine would have a much stronger aura. A hanyou made between us would be purified in the womb. I thought you would have realized this."

"I guess I did, in a way," she said. "So that's it? I'll be an old hag someday and can't give you an heir, so you won't have me."

"That is not what I meant," he said. His face remained emotionless, but she could tell she had hurt him.

She knew it wasn't what he meant. She didn't know why she had even suggested such a heartless thing. He was a warrior, a taiyoukai, and to open his heart and leave himself vulnerable because of his affections was probably not the easiest thing for him to do. She had seen him in the future, saw the pain in his eyes as he pushed her through the well. He was setting himself up for endless heartache by loving her and being loved in return. He would live on for centuries after she was gone, and her memory would eat through his very soul. She was healing his heart only to break it all over again. Her death would stay with him for the rest of his long life.

"Sess…" Kagome stuttered. She took his face in her hands, running her thumbs over his stripes and across the pointed tips of his ears. He closed his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry. You're afraid of the future, aren't you?"

He didn't answer, but he didn't need to. "Sesshoumaru, I love you, and I know you love me. Don't you?"

And with that one question, their relationship reached a delicate crossroad. Kagome was prepared to wait with baited breath for his answer, but he did not hesitate in replying.

"Yes," he said, and drew Kagome into his arms. She stayed silent there for a few moments, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"I need you," she whispered in his ear. "Shizuka needs you. All of this might lead to heartache, but I know that if our positions were reversed I would love you as passionately and as long as I could, rather than to push you away and never loved you at all. Don't ever leave me," she said, and realized she was crying again.

Sesshoumaru carefully lifted her up and laid her on the futon. He covered her in the sheets and lay down beside her, welcoming her into his arms as she rolled over to face him. He laid his chin atop her head, his claws gently worked some of the knots out of her hair.

"Sleep now," he said.

"You'll wake me if Shizuka gets up?"

"Yes," he promised, and she was soon asleep.

When she squirmed and cried in the fit of a nightmare, he drew her closer and kissed her forehead. He whispered in her ear and put her at ease, and it was only when she was at peace that he allowed himself to close his eyes.


	10. Demon's Nightmare

The last she remembered, she was being lifted off the ground by the serpent mononoke. She could remember Tetsusaiga falling through her fingers and transforming into its rusted guise. It was a blur of movement after that, and the painful tension of air being forced from her lungs. Then there was the merciful darkness that swallowed her whole.

She didn't know where she was now. It looked like her village, but somehow it wasn't the same. There were far less huts than there should have been, and the line of trees was different, thicker. It was as though she had stepped back in time a few years, when the village wasn't quite so populated. But that wasn't the only strange thing. Mist slithered across the ground, and it was difficult to tell whether it was night or day. It was light and dark, like just before dusk without the glare of the setting sun. No sun, no moon, no villagers. It was as though everyone had abandoned their homes. Everything was silent, and everything was strangely still. Not even the wind dared to blow through there. The air hung stagnant around the village.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked herself.

"Oi, Shizuka!"

The voice startled her. She hadn't heard anyone approaching, and the strange nature of the air carried no scent.

"Huh?" she grumbled and turned around to face the edge of the forest.

One tree stood out from the rest, the big old tree with talismans hanging around its fat trunk. The scorch mark Bakusaiga left behind as it drove Inuyasha's body against the tree was still there. To Shizuka's horror, the tree was bleeding from that very mark.

Beyond the bleeding tree on which her father died was the Goshinboku, and just beyond the God Tree was her father's grave. She had never known her father, and though her mother and uncle visited his resting place every now and then, Shizuka had never joined them. She had no attachment to him, and had never even seen his face.

Even so, she knew him when she saw him.

He stepped out from the trees with his arms crossed inside his sleeves. Tetsusaiga had somehow migrated to his hip.

"You're just like me, kid," he said.

Shizuka shook her head. There was no way this could be real. It had to be a dream, or perhaps…well, she didn't want to think about it.

"You've been dead for thirteen years," she said to him, and he smiled crookedly.

"Yeah," he said, then hung his head and laughed.

Shizuka watched as ebony strands slowly crept into her father's hair. She thought he was turning human, but his ears stayed atop his head and his claws remained. Black continued to consume white, and when he lifted his head he wasn't himself anymore. Shizuka was left looking into her own eyes. She saw herself in her dead father's clothing, the scarlet clothes he had been buried in.

This strange twin of hers smirked evilly and cocked an eyebrow.

"And that's just about how long you've been alive, you little bitch," her twin said. Shizuka felt like her head was going to explode.

"What the fuck is goin' on? Where the hell am I?" she yelled, pointing a clawed finger at her double. "And who the flyin' fuck are you?"

Her double scoffed. "What? I don't look familiar? I'm just a little demon that killed her own mother. Not to mention her best friend," she said, and Shizuka decided she had enough.

"Liar!" Shizuka yelled.

"I wouldn't lie to myself," her twin said, and Shizuka's face fell.

She had fallen into the darkness her uncle had warned her about. She couldn't remember anything after the pressure of the snake squeezing the life out of her. She couldn't say for certain that what her double said was a lie. A fully demon soul in a mostly human body was a dangerous thing. Perhaps it was a mercy that she couldn't remember what had happened. Of course, an absence of memory wouldn't make the pain any less if she woke up to find she had murdered her mother and Shippo. If she woke up at all, and this wasn't some sort of personal hell.

With a snarl, her double lunged at her. Her double's eyes bled a violent red, the pupils small and blue. Her fangs grew long over lips. Shizuka stood her ground and readied herself to fight. When Shizuka bared her claws, she realized they were nothing more than blunt human nails. She traced one of those blunt nails over the cup of her human ear.

Instead of a complete medium between the demon and human worlds, she was split into the worst of each.

Her demonic double grew transparent as she charged forward, and instead of the sharp sting of claws, Shizuka felt strangely hollow as her double passed clean through her. She felt her legs lock and her eyes close and roll back in her head. The world faded away into darkness. She felt herself falling, though she never hit the ground. She had to open to her eyes. It was the only way to unlock her limbs, and her demon self was still behind her, still watching, readying to charge at her again…

Shizuka ripped open her eyes and found a roof over her head.

She sat up quickly and clutched at her chest. Her heart was beating much too fast, and it hurt…Everything hurt. Her bones ached, her head swam in a terrible fog, and even moving her eyes from the ceiling to the sleeping boy at her side made her headache infinitely worse. She held her hands up to her face and was pleased to find them tipped in white claws.

She was alive, whole. And so was he. Shizuka felt her throat tighten, and Shippo screamed himself awake when she threw her arms around his neck.

"Shippo!" she yelled and cried, and the kitsune was too shocked to move for a few moments.

"Shizuka…" he said in near disbelief, and Shizuka began to cry harder when he closed his arms around her. "You're okay!"

"Ye--ye-ahh…" Shizuka said between sobs, and Shippo patted her back in comfort.

Neither of them noticed the demon watching them from the doorway.

Kagome awoke to a gentle voice in her ear and a hand lightly shaking her shoulder.

"Kagome," Sesshoumaru whispered, and she sat up so quickly that her head nearly collided with his chin.

"Is she awake?" Kagome asked, and Sesshoumaru nodded.

Kagome threw off the covers and nearly ran into Shizuka's room. She fell on her knees before the two children, who were still locked in each other's arms.

"Shizuka?" she said tentatively, and Shizuka slowly lifted her head from Shippo's shoulder.

Shizuka's eyes immediately went to the swollen cut on her mother's cheek, then to the scratches that crept out from the shoulder of her yukata. She could feel her eyes brimming again, and she rushed to hug her mother before they overflowed. Kagome crushed her daughter to her and couldn't keep herself from tearing up again. She barely noticed when Shizuka gave a pained groan.

"Ma, my bones hurt," Shizuka whined.

"Oh," Kagome said and loosened her grip on her daughter. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Ma, did I-?" she began, but couldn't finish. Kagome kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I'm sorr--"

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Kagome said, and Shizuka smiled weakly. That sure as hell didn't feel like the truth.

"Just rest, hun. Are you hungry?"

"No," Shizuka said, and as soon as she said it her stomach began a loud grumbling. "Maybe a little."

"Shizuka," Sesshoumaru said sternly, and Shizuka quickly met his gaze. "You must not let this happen again. You must not separate from Tetsusaiga in battle."

"It won't happen again," Shizuka said, and Sesshoumaru nodded her way before following Kagome out of the room.

Shippo handed Tetsusaiga back to her, and she placed it back at her hip. The two sat amongst an awkward silence for a few moments. Shizuka looked at him from the corner of her eye. She hadn't noticed the cut across his forehead until now.

"Sorry I almost killed you," she said.

Shippo scoffed and dismissed her with a slight wave of his hand. "You didn't even scratch me."

"Yeah, that's why you got a cut on your head," she said.

"That's nothing," he said. Shizuka cocked an eyebrow at him, then reached out and ran a claw over his scab. Shippo hissed and leaned away from her. "Oww."

Shizuka laughed hollowly. There was more silence.

"Hey Shizuka?" Shippo asked finally.

"Yeah?"

"What were you dreaming about?"

"Keh, nothing," Shizuka said. She laid down on her side and rolled over to stare at the wall. It was awhile before she spoke again. "You really wanna know?"

"Yeah," he said, and Shizuka rolled over to face him.

* * *

Even though she claimed to be only a tiny bit hungry, Shizuka shoveled a whole bowl of rice into her mouth like she hadn't eaten in years. Shippo's manners weren't much better. As Kagome worked on getting them second helpings, Sesshoumaru's shadow fell over her.

"I will be back," he said, and Kagome whirled around to face him.

"Where are you going?" she asked, catching him just as he was pulling back the bamboo curtain.

"Out, for a moment," he said, and Kagome's face fell.

The stirrer she had been mixing the rice with nearly fell from her fingers. Only a moment sounded like an eternity to her. She had almost lost him and her daughter the day before. He couldn't leave, not even for another day.

He went to her then, taking the utensils and bowl from her hands and laying them aside. He brushed away her bangs and laid his forehead against hers.

"Rin's garden has medicinal herbs, no?" he asked, and Kagome sighed.

"Yeah. There would be something there to help Shizuka," she said. "I'm so frazzled I forgot."

"Stay with them," he said, and kissed her gently. "I will return soon."

"Make sure Kirara's doing okay," Kagome said with a smile as he left.

It was another bowl and a half of rice later that he returned. By then, both Shizuka and Shippo had drifted back to sleep. Kagome found herself quite amused at the way Shippo had fallen asleep sitting up again, this time with Shizuka leaning heavyily on his shoulder. Kagome was sitting by the fire pit when Sesshoumaru came home, a large bundle of herbs in one hand. To her surprise, that wasn't all he had brought home.

"What's that?" Kagome asked as he hung the bow up the hooks that Tetsusaiga had once rested on. He slung the quiver of arrows off his back and hung them there as well.

"Your weapons," he said, and Kagome shot him a strange glance.

"My weapons?"

"You are an archer, are you not?" he asked, and handed the herbs to her.

"I used to be," Kagome said. She had barely touched a bow since she had been back in this era, and hadn't owned one of her own since she was only a girl hunting the Jewel Shards. She doubted whether or not she could even find the strength to pull the string back anymore. "I'm way out of practice. Why are you giving them to me anyway?"

"For another day," he said cryptically, and Kagome decided to work on preparing the herbs instead of prodding him about what he was talking about. She would find out soon enough.


	11. Demon's Return

Out of the four of them, Shizuka has always been the one who had the easiest time blending in. Put a baseball cap over her ears and she could walk right out the door. Her aura was decidedly weak, and no human would look twice at her. She was also the only one of them that held a normal job.

Well, if you could the crazy shifts she sometimes worked _normal_.

Though there was nothing outwardly odd about him, save maybe his flaming red ponytail, he could feel that there were many eyes upon him. The humans couldn't see anything of his true nature, but they all knew there was something ethereal about him.

The same was true of Sesshoumaru, even more so since the taiyoukai refused to have any kitsune magic placed upon him. They would catch sight of a striped wrist or the moon behind his bangs in tandem with their intuition of his inhuman nature, and everyone would be staring. Sesshoumaru had never cared what humans thought of him in his thin disguise.

Even in his thick veil of magic, Shippo had been just a bit wary in the beginning. It was strange to have so many eyes upon him. But he was a grown kitsune now. They had been disguising themselves as humans for near to three-hundred years, and the wary feeling had faded away.

He glanced a look at the tabby cat trailing along behind him. She gave a small mewl and he smiled at her. Kirara never cared what people thought of her, either.

It was the first time in a long time that he'd been in Tokyo. He traveled and traipsed across the world in the four years they'd waited for Kagome to disappear through the well, especially in the last year.

When Sesshoumaru reasoned that only his intervention would open the well again, Shippo left for Russia. When Sesshoumaru pushed Kagome through the well, he had been sightseeing in St. Petersburg.

He didn't want to be there and feel the final flash of magic, knowing it would never happen again. And besides, he couldn't say goodbye to her anyway.

Shizuka could wave Kagome through to Sengoku Jidai since Kagome wouldn't know her for another year or so, but he could not. He couldn't imagine the confusion on her face if she saw him fully grown. She would have enough things to worry about knowing that Sesshoumaru of all people was the one to send her back into the past. Looking back, he couldn't imagine how she had dealt with the things she had known beforehand. She had taken everything without a word of frustration.

They had watched over her for four years and saw nothing but frowns. At least she would find her happiness in the past.

With a smile on his face, Shippo slowly ascended the stairs to the Higurashi shrine.


	12. Demon's Revenge

In all the years they had been together Kagome could never remember Sesshoumaru holding her hand until now. Once they had stepped into the cover of the forest, away from the eyes of friends and neighbors, he had taken her hand. Kagome smiled and squeezed his hand tightly, leaning against him as they walked.

At her back, arrows jangled in their quiver. Though he was wearing his full armor and both swords, Sesshoumaru made no sound as they walked through the underbrush. When she had awoken that morning, she had found him already dressed. He had instructed her to do the same, and armed her with the bow and arrows as they slipped outside. He did not tell her where they were going, and she did not ask. As it was, she was happy just to enjoy the peaceful day with him. Although with the bow held at her side, she wasn't sure how peaceful it would remain.

They walked deep into the forest until the scenery began to meld together, every tree and every rock looking as though they had already passed by it. Kagome's growing anxiousness was quelled by her mate, who kept his eyes trained into the distance. He seemed to know exactly where they were going, but Kagome was becoming increasingly curious.

She squinted against the morning sun as they entered a small clearing. Sesshoumaru came to a stop and slipped his hand out of her grasp. He positioned himself a few paces in front of her, leaving her to stare at his back. Kagome felt his aura swell slightly.

"Sesshoumaru?" she asked, taking a tentative step toward him. "What are you doing?"

"Stay close and ready your bow," he said, and Kagome wrinkled her brow at his back. He turned around, as if he could sense her confusion. "Do you not trust me?"

"I trust you," she said. She went to stand directly behind him, pressing herself against his armored back. He did not object when she wrapped her arms around his middle.

His aura continued to rise in strength, making the hair on her arms and neck stand on end. He unleashed his youki until his hair began to swirl around his head, caught in the surging updraft of his power. His demonic aura began to feel like a weight bearing down on her, seeping into her bones and making her head ache. It soon became clear that she was not the only one his power was affecting. There arose a hissing chorus of screams from within the forest, staggering crashes as trees were felled.

"Sesshoumaru?"

No sooner than his name left her lips, the line of trees before them was decimated by the serpentine body that crashed through it. She had no doubt that long, muscular body could snap her in half like a pair of old chopsticks. Or squeeze her to death like one of it's kind had almost done to her daughter.

Kagome uttered a little gasp as the rush of fangs and forked tongue barreled it's way toward them, and yet Sesshoumaru made no move. Kagome barely registered as he drew Bakusaiga from it's sheath, drawing the blade across the approaching youkai's form. Kagome ducked down and used Sesshoumaru as a guard from the spray of blood that followed. Kagome saw from the corner of her eye as the snake's head fell to the ground, without the body attached.

A second snake emerged from the trees, and then another, both dispatched just as easily. Sesshoumaru was on his fourth kill when he finally looked over his shoulder at her.

"Do you not want to destroy them?" he asked. "One of their kind drove Shizuka to madness."

Her words hit her with a powerful force. Suddenly it was not enough to watch them die. She wanted her arrow in the eye of one of those mononoke. She wanted to watch as her holy arrow purified it's scaly body, disintegrating it into nothing but dust. She had not even held a bow in many years. At first she had doubted whether or not she could find the strength to even pull back the string. With the idea of revenge dangled before her, even a hollow kind such as this, she couldn't see how she couldn't find the strength. Shizuka had survived the mononoke attack, but Kagome's mental pain had continued even after her daughter's physical aches had faded away. Sesshoumaru was offering her an outlet for her grief, an escape from the what-ifs that had been running through her mind for the last few days. She knew it was not wise to dwell on what had happened, but she could not help herself. Every time she saw the purification marks on Shizuka's arm she wanted to cry.

"The next one is mine," Kagome said, and pulled an arrow from her quiver.

She readied her bow, and the next mononoke that came crashing through the trees had that arrow glance off his scaly head. With the growl she quickly prepared her next arrow, and her second shot caught the demon in the side of the face. It screamed and writhed with the holy power of the arrow. Her next arrow pierced through the demon's soft underbelly, and she watched as it was swallowed in pink light. Nothing remained but dust. The next snake met the same fate, as did the next.

Kagome could already feel the soreness settling into her arm. She was going to hurt something fierce the next day, but she didn't care. She was not prepared when the next snake came at her, and Sesshoumaru took the liberty of dispatching it instead.

She was ready when faced with the next demon, sending her arrow sailing into its left eye. The demon wailed and threw itself to the ground, rolling into a tight coil. Kagome aimed and fired, but the snake moved so quickly her shot missed. The snake unwound itself and began slithering back into the trees. She tried to catch it before it escaped, but her next shot missed as well.

"Damn!" she screamed, and drew another arrow across her bow. The last of the snake's massive body was quickly disappearing. Before she could fire, Sesshoumaru's hand came down lightly upon hers.

"Let it go," he said.

"But-"

"Let it go," he repeated, and Kagome slackened her hold on the string. She lowered the bow, and the arrow fell useless to the ground.

Suddenly she became aware of how hard she was breathing. She took a few deep breaths, and as the frantic beating of her heart slowed, Sesshoumaru reined in his youki. They waited for a few moments, but were met with no further adversaries.

"That felt damn good," she said.

"Hnn," he murmured, and wrapped an arm around her. Kagome pressed her cheek against the cold metal of his breastplate as they rose slowly off the ground.

He set down a good distance away from the carnage, sitting down against the base of a tree with Kagome tucked in his lap.

"Thank you," she said, and kissed him softly. She settled herself against him, resting her head just below his chin. He ran his claws through her hair, letting her drift off to sleep in his hold. He remained wide awake, keeping his ears open for the sounds of fighting in the distance.


	13. Demon's Grave

It had taken a few days, but things eventually came to some resemblance of normality, of which Shizuka was glad. Shippo had gone back to the Kitsune Inn the day before to resume his studies with the promise he would return once his next exam was over. She didn't know where her uncle had dragged her mother off to that morning, but Shizuka hoped that by the time they returned her mother's nerves would finally be completely unwound. Kagome had been a mess the last few days, and Shizuka didn't like seeing her mother that way. She seemed constantly worried and lost in her thoughts, quite unlike her usual self. Shizuka tried her best not to let her purified arm slip from its sleeve. Each time it did, see could see the stress in her mother's eyes double. The marks didn't hurt anymore, but they were still quite ugly. They would fade away with time, unlike the scars Shizuka had drawn across her mother's shoulder. Most likely Kagome would be living with those for the rest of her life.

Just as it was hard for Kagome to see the marks on her daughter's arm, seeing Kagome's scars made Shizuka inwardly cringe.

With Shippo back at the Inn and her uncle and mother off somewhere, Shizuka was left to her own devices for the day. The aches and pains left behind from her transformation were slowly fading away, and she felt well enough to set out of the house once her mother and uncle had gone. She made her way into the forest by way of her father's tree, running her claws over its charred trunk as she passed by. She followed a straight path to Goshinboku and on to her destination.

She felt a bit nervous about what she was doing, though she could not say exactly why.  
She sat before the large stone grave marker, folding her hands into her sleeves. There were dead remains of flowers scattered about near the marker's base, and a wayward vine was beginning to curl itself around the structure. It was an old grave, but it had not been forgotten.

Shizuka could still see her father's face clearly, as if he had come to her in her nightmare only yesterday. She didn't know if she would find any answers by sitting near his grave, but it seemed an appropriate place to sit and think about her own nature.

Her mother was human. Her uncle was youkai. She was neither nor, just like her father had been. She had been told stories of his struggles with his youkai nature, and now she found herself faced with the same problem. She would not speak of it, but it scared her. It was disturbing that her youkai could completely consume her, leaving her conscious mind in darkness. She could remember nothing of what she had done while she was transformed.

She never wanted to fall into that darkness again.

She almost wished he was alive. Her mother and uncle would never know how she felt. She was human and he was youkai, their natures where set. Shizuka's soul tottered between a larger human portion and a stronger youkai portion. Two natures in one body. Her father had battled that same demon once.

Shizuka sighed. She wanted to train her skills with Tetsusaiga. She wanted to be a warrior like her uncle and father. How could she accomplish such a thing if she was scared of the demon that dwelled inside of her, scared of her own self? Something had to be done, though she had no idea what. Obviously there were no answers to be found at her father's grave.

Shizuka rose and turned to leave, but a rustling in the trees made her hand move to the hilt of her sword. She could feel a demonic aura creeping up on her from somewhere in the trees. There was loud crash somewhere to her left, and she drew out Tetsusaiga.

"I can hear you," Shizuka said. Her hands were tightly wound around the sword's hilt. She could not let it go. Not this time. "So you might as well come out, you coward!"

The response was immediate. It came crashing through the trees at her, it's one head rearing out from its coiling body. There was only one head this time, one hooded head scaled in red and black, but Shizuka felt her heart sink just the same. Its fangs dripped with poison, but there was also blood staining its forked tongue.

There was an arrow embedded in the snake's left eye.

Since it was already injured, the snake wouldn't be much trouble to get rid of. Shizuka rose up Tetsusaiga and brought it slashing down across her body.

"Kaze no Kizu!" she yelled, and nothing happened. She could feel the demonic energy swirling inside the weapon, but when she tried to attack a second time the result was the same.

"What the hell is going on?" she screamed the sword. "Why won't you work?!"

The snake came rushing at her, and Shizuka ducked and rolled out of it's path. She rolled up against her father's grave marker, warm blood running out from the side her head as she collided with the stone. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and gave a glance toward the snake that was rolling around in the clearing. It was dragging it's head across the ground trying to dislodge the arrow from its eye. Shizuka looked down at the sword in her hand and felt it pulse.

She screamed as pain erupted in the center of her forehead. She placed her hand flat across her face, and she saw through her fingers as her vision began to take on a reddish tint. She felt as her fangs grew out, becoming too long for her mouth to properly contain. Her hearing became sharper. Every little sound was clearly pronounced, almost deafening. She could hear the snake slithering toward her, the sound of each individual scale as it moved across the ground and the drip of poison and blood from it's mouth. She took one last look at the sword.

_Tetsusaiga, what are you doing to me?_

She brought her elongated claws around and caught the snake in its injured eye. With a savage pull, she ripped the eyeball completely out of its orbit. She shielded herself from the sticky downpour that followed by crossing her arms over her head. The snake fell away from her a moment and Shizuka saw that the arrow which had been lodged in the eye had landed at her side. She picked it up and held it to her nose. Underneath the smell of snake was her mother's scent. Shizuka felt a rage growing within her. The depth of that emotion in her current state seemed limitless.

"What did you do to her?!"

Shizuka ran at the mononoke, landing upon its back. She sunk her claws into its scales to keep the wriggling beast from throwing her off. She then drove the sword into its flesh. She held fast, her heart beating a frantic tattoo against her chest. Tetsusaiga had drawn out her demon, and Shizuka had no idea what to expect.

With a spasm of it's muscular body, Tetsusaiga was forced out from the snake's flesh. Shizuka leapt off it back and the snake positioned it's mouth beneath her. Shizuka smirked, evading the gaping mouth and bringing her claws down upon its head. The power behind her strike was exquisite, something she certainly did not expect to come from within herself. It was the result of her demon swimming so close to the surface, risen to the top by her sentient sword even as she retained her lucidity.

Her demon blood was not something to fear. It was from where her power stemmed in the first place. It was nothing to fear just as her human side was nothing to feel contempt for. Her mother had taught her that a long time ago. Human emotion came easy to her that way, her human heart was something she had been taught to respect. Now Tetsusaiga had shown her the same of her other half.

She drove her claws deeper into the thick skull.

_I am youkai like my uncle_, she thought to herself. _I am human like my mother, I am **both**, like my father. _

Tetsusaiga resonated in her grip. She tore her claws out and brought the sword down, calling upon the Wind Scar. This time, the sword did not fail. Shizuka watched through the yellow light as the snake was torn to pieces. Once the attack had exhausted itself, there was snake skin and innards hanging from the tree branches. She looked towards her father's grave and saw a bundle of scales resting on it.

She sheathed her sword and could feel her face resume its normal appearance. Her aura quelled. She went to retrieve that arrow, ready to set out and find her mother. It was then that her uncle's aura hit her. Giving one last glance to her father's marker, she ran through the woods and towards the taiyoukai's pulsing aura.

The smell of blood hit her nose before she saw them, and she tread carefully though the mangled bodies of a least a dozen snakes before she came upon her mother and uncle, sitting a few yards away.

Sesshoumaru was curled up against a tree with Kagome in his lap. She looked to be sound asleep, and Shizuka smiled weakly. Perhaps now things would really get back to normal.

She dropped her mother's arrow at Sesshoumaru's feet. "You took her hunting, really?"

"Yes," he said simply. His pulled his claws gently down Kagome's back, and she stirred slightly in her sleep.

"You were listening to me the entire time, weren't you?" Shizuka asked.

"Hnn," the taiyoukai grumbled. He narrowed his eyes, and a sneaky smile touched the corner of his lips. Shizuka's eyes widened.

Shizuka growled. "You let that thing escape on purpose. You planned that!"

Sesshoumaru shrugged. Shizuka shook her head and stepped past them.

"Keh," she spat. "I'll see you at home."

"Shizuka," Sesshoumaru called. Shizuka stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Yeah?"

"We will continue to train your skills," he said.

"Sure," she shrugged, and continued on back toward the village.


	14. Demon's Arrow

The guy really didn't know who he was messing with. She may not have looked very intimidating in her simple clothing, Tetsusiga hanging in its idle form at her hip, but she was sure she could beat this bastard up five times over before he even knew what had hit him. She readjusted the bundle of herbs slung over her back, freeing her right hand in case she needed to draw her sword.

From the looks of the antennae perched on his head he was some sort of insect youkai, though it was otherwise difficult to tell in his humanoid form. If he really was an insect youkai, she would squash him just like a beetle beneath her sandal if he tried anything funny. It would be easy. He didn't even have a sword on him. Just a bow and quiver of arrows slung over his back. Shizuka knew as well as any that a bow and arrows could be deadly. Her own mother could hit a target without even physically seeing it, but Kagome was a skilled miko. This idiot could not come into such close comparison.

The herbs her mother had asked her to pick were deep in the forest, but Shizuka always knew exactly where to find them. Lady Kaede had told Kagome where they grew many years ago, and Kagome had passed the knowledge onto her daughter. As seasons passed and as did passing sicknesses in the village, Shizuka grew from a child into a young woman and Kagome depended on Shizuka more and more to gather the herbs. They weren't easy to reach, for a human anyway. Gathering herbs in that little patch of mossy grounds surrounded by thorny plants was where he found her, sneaking up behind her back as if he thought her ears weren't keen enough to hear him, her nose too weak to smell his ugly stench.

"Well I'll be damned, if you aren't a half-demon," he said.

Shizuka turned to look into those ugly red eyes. She glared at him, growling slightly, and he seemed quite amused at her. He wouldn't be so amused when she beat him into the ground. She hadn't spent the last five years training under the Lord of the Western Lands only to be bested by some pompous thug.

"Keh," Shizuka spat. "I'm less than half-demon and I can still beat the shit out of you. Now get out of my way."

She leaped gracefully over a patch of thorns and landed beside him, startling his steed. Judging by it's red eyes and ugly, clawed toes, it was a demon itself. He managed to calm the horse down, giving Shizuka an ugly scowl.

"Well, well, the little demon has quite a big mouth on her," he hissed, and Shizuka smirked at him.

"Yeah, real big mouth. Bigger even then your brain. Now get lost before I get out Tetsusaiga," she said. She put her hand at the hilt of her sword, and the youkai threw back his head and laughed.

"A pathetic sword?" the demon scoffed. "As if you could beat the youkai Hiramura with that. You're not even a full-demon. I would be doing you a favor by disposing of you. I'm surprised you haven't been put out of your misery already."

"Put me out of my misery?" Shizuka said through gritted teeth. "I'll give you another chance to get out of my way. If you don't, at least I'll know what name to put on your gravestone."

He wasn't the first demon to throw such an insult at her, and she knew he probably wouldn't be the last. In the last few years she had helped her uncle battle many a taiyoukai. Most of them had laughed at Sesshoumaru's choice of dueling companion, only to be pierced through the chest by Kongosoha put to death by the Bakuryuha.

She drew her sword, and immediately there was subtle sting that flashed across her cheek, a quick rush and whine of wind against her ear. A hollow thump followed as Hiramura's arrow embedded itself in a tree behind her. She hadn't even seen him draw his bow. Perhaps she had underestimated him, though only slightly.

"Your aim sucks," she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You must be mistaken. I never miss," he said, and drew another arrow. "I'm just giving you time to realize who you're dealing with, and to concede. You're a scourge, but still female. You'll die regardless, but I'll make sure it's painless if you bow to me."

"Go to Hell!" she said, and lunged. "Kongosoha!"

Shizuka almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. The massive shards of Kongosoha rushing at Hiramura, and he with only a single arrow in retaliation. The arrow weaved it's way through the shards, ducking and rising its flight path as was needed, until it had dodged her attack completely. Shizuka ducked and rolled, but still there was a sharp pain in her back. She crouched near the base of the tree only to find the head of the arrow peeking out from between her ribs. She reached around and pulled it out, and from somewhere to her left Hiramura was laughing at her.

He appeared to be unharmed, but a thick shard of Kongosoha had pierced his demon steed straight through it's bony body. Hiramura dismounted, and immediately after the horse-like demon collapsed to the ground in a puddle of it's own blood.

"Now look what you've done," he said, casting a sorrowful look down at his dead mount. He pulled another arrow from his quiver and strung it across the bow. " I think I'll aim for your belly next. That'll be nice and painful, no?"

Shizuka waited until after he fired to launch her counterattack. This time she unleashed the power of Mediou Zangetsuha. One of the mediou blades succeeded in swallowing the arrow before it closed, and Shizuka saw the shock in Hiramura's eyes as he dodged the other blades that threatened to consume him, letting them instead swallow some of the surrounding trees in his place. His shocked expression was fleeting, however, and Shizuka was quick to find out why.

She spewed out a mouthful of blood as an arrow caught her in the throat, and another caught her in the belly, just as he had promised. Hiramura began walking toward her, but Shizuka fended him away with another bombardment of Kongosoha. He pointed his next arrow at her slowly, deliberately, and Shizuka readied herself. He fired, but the arrow immediately deviated from it's straight path, veering to the right and disappearing into the trees. Shizuka grunted, taking hold of the arrow in her throat. She pulled it out and let loose a waterfall of blood down the front of her kimono.

"What the hell are you playing at?" was what she meant to say, though to her ears it sounded like nothing more than garbled nonsense. Hiramura seemed to catch her meaning nonetheless.

"My arrow will hit any target I want it to," he said smugly. "Even if I have never even seen my target's face. You should consider your wretched next of kin dead as well as yourself," he smirked.

Shizuka's eyes widened as his narrowed. He had not expected her to be so strong. She had wounded his pride by still being alive, and now he was going to make sure she was not the only one who suffered.

"You bastard!" she yelled, nearly choking on the flow of her own blood.

Shizuka could tell that he did not expect her eyes to bleed red into that of a full-demon. He also did not expect his leg to pierced by one of those diamond shards, or for the little female to keep coming at him even as an arrow stuck into her shoulder. It was almost as if she didn't feel the pain, couldn't. It had been a long road, but after so many years she and Tetsusaiga had come to understand each other. She was her father's daughter but she was less of a demon than he had been, weaker, though she did not care to admit it. Tetsusaiga had called on her demon blood many times, but never had she lost control with the sword in her hands. She had fallen into the darkness once without it, but with it, it was nothing but a sheer rush of power. She could push herself to the edge and Tetsusiga would draw her back.

A sentient arrow was nothing next to a sentient sword.

All the while, Shizuka was forcing him out towards the village nearby, flushing him out into the open. Some of his arrows disappeared into the black blades her sword let loose, as did his left antenna.

She could sense then that she would not be alone in this fight for long. She could smell his wayward arrow and the blood it had drawn. It only made her more furious.

He fired, and the arrow to the leg succeeded in slowing her down. He right knee gave out and she slammed face-first into the ground ad he turned and ran. By the time Shizuka righted herself, the screaming started.

* * *

They had been walking together for what seemed like an eternity, yet he still had not posed the question that was begging to escape from his lips. He could feel it, lingering just on the tip of his tongue, but he could not ask it. He was frightened to, which in itself seemed ridiculous, but not so much when one considered the demeanor of the taiyoukai. It was true that Sesshoumaru was not quite the human-hating, arrogant brute he had been when Shippo first met him, but that did not make the kitsune any less afraid. Sesshoumaru could lop off his head with a single swipe if he so chose, and Shippo thought that broaching this subject with him might just have that very consequence.

Sesshoumaru's silence was doing nothing to boost his confidence. Soon they would reach the village, and his little window of opportunity to speak to the taiyoukai would close. Since he had achieved Senior 3rd Rank in his Youjutsu Exams, he had taken time off from studying to help Sesshoumaru and Shizuka exterminate demons that wandered too close to the village. Sometimes Sango or Miroku would help. They had much more time to do so since their children were almost grown by now, but they were only human and they were getting on in years. The same was true for Kagome, though her duties as miko often kept her busy enough without her joining on their hunting party. Kohaku was away from the village a good amount of time, though he did join them when he returned to visit his wife and twin sons.

It was the perfect opportunity to speak to Sesshoumaru alone. A sickness was running through the village, and Shizuka had stayed behind that day to help Kagome prepare medicines. Usually it was always the three of them. Sesshoumaru, Shizuka, and Shippo. Shippo did not know when an opportunity like this would arise again, and he was afraid that by the time it did, but would start having second thoughts and lose his nerve altogether.

Though if Sesshoumaru did agree, then he would still have to face Kagome. And Shizuka. He felt his face flush and looked down at his feet.

Shippo clenched his fist at his side. This was ridiculous. If he had faced Naraku and lived, surely he could face them. He wasn't a child anymore. He was a taiyoukai, just like the dog demon. He glanced to his side at the regal figure of silk and furs, two swords riding at his hip. Shippo sighed. He was a taiyoukai, but he was still little more than a teenager and still a head shorter than the dog demon.

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Shippo said. He tried to keep his voice as level as possible, but the tail end of the demon's name wound up cracking in his throat.

"Hnn?" Sesshoumaru mumbled. He came to sudden halt and Shippo almost walked into his back. Sesshoumaru turned to face him, and suddenly Shippo felt very small in comparison.

"I wanted to ask you something," the kitsune said. Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrow. "Well, I wanted your permission to…" he stumbled. "To uh….oh…"

The elder demon turned quickly away from him, continuing on is way back to the village. Shippo's face fell, and for a few moments he could not find the courage to follow. It took a awhile before he fell back in step with Sesshoumaru, and when the demon spoke to him, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"If you are going to stumble with your words," he said, and Shippo's face drained of whatever color was left in it. "Perhaps it is better if you do not ask anything of me at all."

Shippo's heart pounded in his chest. No, he had to ask. He gulped loudly, swallowing a good portion of his nervousness.

"It's Shizuka…" he choked, "I wanted to ask your permission to…if I'd be acceptable to…"

The demon's eyes went considerably wider, and Shippo supposed that the taiyoukai knew exactly what he wanted without him actually finishing a complete sentence. The color was slowly rising back into Shippo's cheeks, even more so when he realized that he had taken hold of the taiyoukai's sleeve, clutching at the fabric as if clinging for dear life itself. How was it that Sesshoumaru had taught him the ways of the warrior, how to effectively take a life, yet it was so difficult to ask to court his niece?

Sesshoumaru turned away, pulling his sleeve out from Shippo's claws. Shippo did not understand the look he saw on the elder demon's face. His nose was turned skyward as if he had caught the scent of something, and he seemed distracted. In the next second, he was gone. There was a bit of delay before Shippo managed to get his feet moving, following Sesshoumaru's path.

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Wait!"

It wasn't long before he caught the scent that had pulled Sesshoumaru away from him. It was blood.


End file.
